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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/21276-8.txt b/21276-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..061b4e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/21276-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5834 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Wars Between England and America, by T. C. Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Wars Between England and America + +Author: T. C. Smith + +Release Date: May 2, 2007 [EBook #21276] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WARS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +THE WARS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA + + +BY + +T. C. SMITH + + + +PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN WILLIAMS + COLLEGE, WILLIAMSTOWN MASS., U.S.A. + + + + +LONDON + +WILLIAMS AND NORGATE + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers +enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page +breaks occurred in the original book, in accordance with Project +Gutenberg's FAQ-V-99. For its Index, a page number has been placed +only at the start of that section.] + + + + +First printed 1914/15. + + + + +{v} + +PREFACE + +The purpose of this volume is to show how social, economic, and +political causes led to a period of almost continuous antagonism +between England and the American communities from 1763 to the +ratification of the Treaty of Ghent in 1815, and how that antagonism +was ended. The war of American Independence, 1775-1783, and the war of +1812-1815 give their names to the book, not because of their military +or naval importance, but because they mark, in each case, the outcome +of successive years of unavailing efforts on the part of each country +to avoid bloodshed. With this aim in view, no more detailed study of +the internal political history or institutions of either country can be +included than is necessary to account for different political habits; +nor can the events of diplomatic history be developed beyond what is +called for to explain persistent lines of action or the conclusion of a +significant treaty. + + + + +{vi} + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + + I THE ELEMENTS OF ANTAGONISM, 1763 . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 + II THE CONTEST OVER PARLIAMENTARY TAXATION, 1763-1773 . . . 28 + III THE DISRUPTION OF THE EMPIRE, 1773-1776 . . . . . . . . . 51 + IV THE CIVIL WAR IN THE EMPIRE, 1776-1778 . . . . . . . . . 75 + V FRENCH INTERVENTION AND BRITISH FAILURE, 1778-1781 . . . 96 + VI BRITISH PARTIES AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 1778-1783 . . 114 + VII THE FORMATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 1781-1793 . . . . . . 129 + VIII THE FIRST PERIOD OF COMMERCIAL ANTAGONISM, 1783-1795 . . 149 + IX THE TRIUMPH OF DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1795-1805 169 + X THE SECOND PERIOD OF COMMERCIAL ANTAGONISM, 1805-1812 . . 189 + XI THE WAR FOR "SAILORS' RIGHTS" AND WESTWARD + EXPANSION, 1812-1815 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 + XII END OF THE ANTAGONISM: A CENTURY OF PEACE . . . . . . . . 236 + BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 + INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 + + + + +{9} + +THE WARS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ELEMENTS OF ANTAGONISM, 1763 + +In 1763, by the Peace of Paris, England won a position of unapproached +supremacy in colonial possessions and in naval strength. The entire +North American continent east of the Mississippi River was now under +the British flag, and four West India sugar islands were added to those +already in English hands. In India, the rivalry of the French was +definitely crushed and the control of the revenues and fortunes of the +native potentates was transferred to the East India Company. Guided by +the genius of Pitt, British armies had beaten French in Germany and +America, and British fleets had conquered French and Spanish with +complete ease. The power of the Empire seemed beyond challenge. Yet +within this Empire itself there lay already the seeds of a discord +which was soon {10} to develop into an irrepressible contest, leading +to civil war; then, for a generation, to drive the separated parts into +renewed antagonism, and finally to cause a second war. Between the +North American colonies and the mother country there existed such +moral, political, and economic divergence that nothing but prudent and +patient statesmanship on both sides of the Atlantic could prevent +disaster. + +The fundamental source of antagonism lay in the fact that the thirteen +colonies had developed a wholly different social and political life +from that of the mother country. Originally, the prevailing ideas and +habits of the colonists and of the Englishmen who remained at home had +been substantially the same. In England, as in America, the gentry and +middle classes played a leading part during the years from 1600 to +1660. But by 1763 England, under the Hanoverian kings, had become a +state where all political and social power had been gathered into the +hands of a landed aristocracy which dominated the government, the +Church, and the professions. In parliament, the House of Commons--once +the body which reflected the conscious strength of the gentry and +citizens,--had now fallen under the control of the peers, owing to the +decayed condition of scores of ancient parliamentary boroughs. Nearly +one-third of the seats were actually {11} or substantially owned by +noblemen, and of the remainder a majority were venal, the close +corporations of Mayor and Aldermen selling freely their right to return +two members at each parliamentary election. In addition, the influence +and prestige of the great landowners were so powerful that even in the +counties, and in those boroughs where the number of electors was +considerable, none but members of the ruling class sought election. So +far as the members of the middle class were concerned--the merchants, +master weavers, iron producers, and craftsmen,--they were strong in +wealth and their wishes counted heavily with the aristocracy in all +legislation of a financial or commercial nature; but of actual part in +the government they had none. As for the lower classes,--the +labourers, tenant farmers, and shopkeepers,--they were able as a rule +to influence government only by rioting and uproar. Without the +ballot, they had no other way. + +Owing to the personal weakness of successive monarchs since the death +of William III, there had grown up the cabinet system of government +which, in 1763, meant the reduction of the King to the position of an +honorary figurehead and the actual control of officers, perquisites, +patronage, and preferment, as well as the direction of public policy, +by the leaders of parliamentary groups. The King was {12} obliged to +select his ministers from among the members of noble families in the +Lords or Commons, who agreed among themselves after elaborate bargains +and negotiations upon the formation of cabinets and the distribution of +honours. In this way sundry great Whig family "connections," as they +were called, had come to monopolize political power, excluding Tories, +or adherents of the Stuarts, and treating government as solely a matter +of aristocratic concern. Into this limited circle, a poor man could +rise only by making himself useful through his talents or his eloquence +to one of the ruling cliques, and the goal of his career was naturally +a peerage. + +The weakness of this system of government by family connection lay in +its thorough dependence upon customs of patronage and perquisite. The +public offices were heavily burdened with lucrative sinecures, which +were used in the factional contests to buy support in Parliament, as +were also peerages, contracts, and money bribes. When George III +ascended the throne, in 1760, he found the most powerful Minister in +the Cabinet to be the Duke of Newcastle, whose sole qualification, +apart from his birth, was his pre-eminent ability to handle patronage +and purchase votes. That such a system did not ruin England was due to +the tenacity and personal courage of this aristocracy and to {13} its +use of parliamentary methods, whereby the orderly conduct of +legislation and taxation and the habit of public attack and defence of +government measures furnished political training for the whole ruling +class. Further, the absence of any sharp caste lines made it possible +for them to turn, in times of crisis, to such strong-fibred and +masterful commoners as Walpole and Pitt, each of whom, in his way, +saved the country from the incompetent hands of titled ministries. + +This system, moreover, rested in 1763 on the aquiescence of practically +all Englishmen. It was accepted by middle and lower classes alike as +normal and admirable; and only a small body of radicals felt called +upon to criticize the exclusion of the mass of taxpayers from a share +in the government. Pitt, in Parliament, was ready to proclaim a +national will as something distinct from the voice of the +borough-owners, but he had few followers. Only in London and a few +counties did sundry advocates of parliamentary reform strive in the +years after 1763 to emphasize these views by organizing the freemen to +petition and to "instruct" their representatives in the Commons. Such +desires evoked nothing but contempt and antipathy in the great majority +of Englishmen. Especially when they became audible in the mouths of +rioters did they appear revolutionary and {14} obnoxious to the lovers +of peace, good order, and the undisturbed collection of rents and +taxes. Nothing but a genuine social revolution could bring such ideas +to victory and that, in 1763, lay very far in the future. For the time +conservatism reigned supreme. + +In the thirteen colonies, on the other hand, the communities of +middle-class Englishmen who emigrated in the seventeenth century had +developed nothing resembling a real aristocracy. Social distinctions, +modelled on those of the old country, remained between the men of large +wealth--such as the great landed proprietors in New York and the +planters in the South, or the successful merchants in New England and +the Middle colonies--and the small farmers, shopkeepers, and fishermen, +who formed the bulk of the population; while all of these joined in +regarding the outlying frontiersmen as elements of society deserving of +small consideration. Men of property, education, and "position" +exercised a distinct leadership in public and private life. Yet all +this remained purely social; in law no such thing as an aristocracy +could be found, and in government the colonies had grown to be very +nearly republican. Here lay the fundamental distinction between the +England and the America of 1763. In America, a title or peerage +conferred no political rights {15} whatever; these were founded in +every case on law, on a royal charter or a royal commission which +established a frame of government, and were based on moderate property +qualifications which admitted a majority of adult males to the suffrage +and to office. + +In every colony the government consisted of a governor, a council, and +an assembly representing the freemen. This body, by charter, or royal +instructions, had the full right to impose taxes and vote laws; and, +although its acts were liable to veto by the governor, or by the Crown +through the Privy Council, it possessed the actual control of political +power. This it derived immediately from its constituents and not from +any patrons, lords, or close corporations. Representation and the +popular will were, in fact, indissolubly united. + +The governor in two colonies, Connecticut and Rhode Island, was chosen +by the freemen. Elsewhere, he was appointed by an outside authority: +in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland by the hereditary proprietor to +whom the charter had been granted, in all other colonies by the Crown. +The councillors, who commonly exercised judicial functions in addition +to their duties as the governor's advisers and as the upper house of +the legislature, were appointed in all colonies except the three in New +England; {16} and they were chosen in all cases from among the socially +prominent colonists. The judges, also, were appointed by the governor; +and they, with governor and council, were supposed to represent the +home government in the colonies. + +But in reality there was no effective imperial control. The Crown, it +is true, appeared to have large powers. It granted charters, +established provinces by commissions, exercised the right to annul laws +and hear appeals from colonial decisions, exacted reports from +governors, sent instructions, and made appointments and removals at +will. But nearly all the colonial officials, except the few customs +officers, were paid out of colonial appropriations, and this one fact +sufficed to deprive them of any independent position. In nearly every +colony, the assembly, in the course of two-thirds of a century of +incessant petty conflict, of incessant wrangling and bargaining, of +incessant encroachments on the nominal legal powers of the governor, +had made itself master of the administration. The colonists resisted +all attempts to direct their military or civil policy, laid only such +taxes as they chose, raised only such troops as they saw fit, passed +only such laws as seemed to them desirable, and tied the governor's +hands by every sort of device. They usurped the {17} appointment of +the colonial treasurer, they appointed committees to oversee the +expenditure of sums voted, they systematically withheld a salary from +the governor, in order to render him dependent upon annual "presents," +liable to diminution or termination in case he did not satisfy the +assembly's wishes. The history of the years from 1689 to 1763 is a +chronicle of continual defeat for governors who were obliged to see one +power after another wrenched away from them. Under the circumstances, +the political life of the thirteen colonies was practically republican +in character, and was as marked for its absence of administrative +machinery as the home government was for its aristocracy and +centralization. + +Another feature of colonial life tended to accentuate this difference. +Although religion had ceased to be a political question, and the +English Church was no longer regarded, save in New England, as +dangerous to liberty, the fact that the great majority of the colonists +were dissenters--Congregational, Presbyterian, or Reformed, with a +considerable scattering of Baptists and other sects--had an effect on +the attitude of the people toward England. In the home country, the +controlling social classes accepted the established church as part of +the constitution; but in the colonies it had small {18} strength, and +even where it was by law established it remained little more than an +official body, the "Governor's church." This tended to widen the gap +between the political views of the individualistic dissenting and +Puritan sects in the colonies and the people at home. + +The American of 1763 was thus a different kind of man from the +Englishman. As a result of the divergent development on the two sides +of the Atlantic from a common ancestry, their political habits had +become mutually incomprehensible. To the Englishman, the rule of the +nobility was normal--the ideal political system. He was content, if a +commoner, with the place assigned to him. To the colonist, on the +other hand, government in which the majority of adult male inhabitants +possessed the chief power was the only valid form,--all others were +vicious. Patriotism meant two contradictory things. The Englishman's +patriotism was sturdy but unenthusiastic, and showed itself almost as +much in a contempt for foreigners as in complacency over English +institutions. The colonist, on the contrary, had a double allegiance: +one conventional and traditional, to the British crown; the other a +new, intensely local and narrow attachment to his province. England +was still the "old home," looked to as the source of political +authority, of manners and literature. It was for many of {19} the +residents their recent abode and, for all except a few of Dutch, +German, or French extraction, their ancestral country. But already +this "loyalty" on the part of the colonists was dwindling into +something more sentimental than real. The genuine local patriotism of +the colonists was shown by their persistent struggle against the +representatives of English authority in the governors' chairs. There +had developed in America a new sort of man, an "American," who wished +to be as independent of government as possible, and who, while +professing and no doubt feeling a general loyalty to England, was in +fact a patriot of his own colony. + +The colonists entered very slightly into the thoughts of the English +noblemen and gentry. They were regarded in a highly practical way, +without a trace of any sentiment, as members of the middle and lower +classes, not without a large criminal admixture, who had been helped +and allowed to build up some unruly and not very admirable communities. +Nor did the English middle classes look upon the colonists with much +interest, or regard them as, on the whole, their equals. The +prevailing colonial political habits, as seen from England, suggested +only unwarrantable wrangling indicative of political incompetence and a +spirit of disobedience. Loyalty, to an {20} Englishman, meant +submission to the law. To men trained in such different schools, words +did not mean the same thing. The time had come when the two peoples +were scarcely able to understand each other. + +A second cause for antagonism, scarcely less fundamental and destined +to cause equal irritation, is to be found in the conflict between the +economic life of the American communities and the beliefs of the mother +country concerning commercial and naval policy. Great Britain, in +1763, was predominantly a trading country. Its ships carried goods for +all the nations of Europe and brought imports to England from all +lands. Although the manufacturers were not yet in possession of the +new inventions which were to revolutionize the industries of the world, +they were active and prosperous in their domestic production of +hardware and textiles, and they furnished cargoes for the shipowners to +transport to all quarters. To these two great interests of the middle +classes, banking and finance were largely subsidiary. Agriculture, the +mainstay of the nobility and gentry, continued to hold first place in +the interests of the governing classes, but the importance of all +sources of wealth was fully recognized. + +In the colonies, on the contrary, manufacture scarcely existed beyond +the domestic {21} production of articles for local use; and the +inhabitants relied on importations for nearly all finished commodities +and for all luxuries. Their products were chiefly things which Great +Britain could not itself raise, such as sugar in the West Indies; +tobacco from the islands and the southern mainland colonies; indigo and +rice from Carolina; furs, skins, masts, pine products; and, from New +England, above all, fish. The natural market for these articles was in +England or in other colonies; and in return British manufactures found +their natural market in the new communities. When the Economic +Revolution transformed industry, and factories, driven by steam, made +England the workshop of the world, the existing tendency for her to +supply America with manufactured products was intensified regardless of +the political separation of the two countries. Not until later +economic changes supervened was this normal relationship altered. + +The traditional British policy in 1763 was that of the so-called +Mercantile System, which involved a thoroughgoing application of the +principle of protection to the British shipowner, manufacturer, and +corn-grower against any competition. An elaborate tariff, with a +system of prohibitions and bounties, attempted to prevent the landowner +from being undersold by foreign corn, and the {22} manufacturer from +meeting competition from foreign producers. Navigation Acts shut out +foreign-built, -owned, or -manned ships from the carrying trade between +any region but their home country and England, reserving all other +commerce for British vessels. Into this last restriction there entered +another purely political consideration, namely, the perpetuation of a +supply of mariners for the British navy, whose importance was fully +recognized. So far as the colonies were concerned, they were brought +within the scope of mercantilist ideas by being considered as sources +of supply for England in products not possible to raise at home, as +markets which must be reserved for British manufacturers and traders, +and as places which must not be allowed to develop any rivalry to +British producers. Furthermore, they were so situated that by proper +regulations they might serve to encourage British shipping even if this +involved an economic loss. + +The Navigation Acts accordingly, from 1660 to 1763, were designed to +put this theory into operation, and excluded all foreign vessels from +trading with the colonies, prohibited any trade to the colonies except +from British ports and enumerated certain commodities--sugar, cotton, +dye woods, indigo, rice, furs--which could be sent only to England. To +ensure the carrying out of these {23} laws, an elaborate system of +bonds and local duties was devised, and customs officers were +appointed, resident in the colonies, while governors were obliged to +take oath to enforce the Acts. As time revealed defects or unnecessary +stringencies, the restrictions were frequently modified. The +Carolinas, for instance, were allowed to ship rice not only to England, +but to any place in Europe south of Cape Finisterre. Bounties were +established to aid the production of tar and turpentine; but special +Acts prohibited the export of hats from the colonies, or the +manufacture of rolled iron, in order to check a possible source of +competition to British producers. In short, the Board of Trade, the +administrative body charged with the oversight of the plantations, +devoted its energies to suggesting devices which should aid the +colonists, benefit the British consumer and producer, and increase +"navigation." + +It does not appear that the Acts of Trade were, in general, a source of +loss to the colonies. Their vessels shared in the privileges reserved +for British-built ships. The compulsory sending of the enumerated +commodities to England may have damaged the tobacco-growers; but in +other respects it did little harm. The articles would have gone to +England in any case. The restriction of importation to goods from +England was no {24} great grievance, since British products would, in +any case, have supplied the American market. Even the effort, by an +Act of 1672, to check intercolonial trade in enumerated commodities was +not oppressive, for, with one exception noted below, there was no great +development of such a trade. By 1763, according to the best evidence, +the thirteen colonies seem to have adjusted their habits to the +Navigation Acts, and to have been carrying on their flourishing +commerce within these restrictions. + +To this general condition, however, there were some slight exceptions, +and one serious one. The colonists undoubtedly resented the necessity +of purchasing European products from English middlemen, and were +especially desirous of importing Spanish and Portuguese wines and +French brandies directly. Smuggling in these articles seems to have +been steadily carried on. Much more important--and to the American +ship-owners the kernel of the whole matter--was the problem of the West +India trade. It was proved, as the eighteenth century progressed, that +the North American colonies could balance their heavy indebtedness to +the mother country for excess of imports over exports only by selling +to the French, as well as the British West Indies, barrel staves, +clapboards, fish and food products. In {25} return, they took sugar +and molasses, developing in New England a flourishing rum manufacture, +which in turn was used in the African slave trade. By these means the +people of the New England and Middle colonies built up an active +commerce, using their profits to balance their indebtedness to England. +This "triangular trade" disturbed the British West India planters, who, +being largely non-residents and very influential in London, induced +Parliament, in 1733, to pass an Act imposing prohibitory duties on all +sugar and molasses of foreign growth. This law, if enforced, would +have struck a damaging blow at the prosperity of the Northern colonies, +merely to benefit the West India sugar-growers by giving them a +monopoly; but the evidence goes to show that it was systematically +evaded and that French sugar, together with French and Portuguese +wines, was still habitually smuggled into the colonies. Thus the +Navigation Acts, in the only points where they would have been actually +oppressive, were not enforced. The colonial governors saw the serious +consequences and shrank from arousing discontent. It is significant +that the same colonists who contended with the royal governors did not +hesitate to violate a parliamentary law when it ran counter to their +interests. + +The only reason why the radical difference {26} between the colonies +and the home government did not cause open conflict long before 1763 is +to be found in the absorption of the English ministries in +parliamentary manoeuvring at home, diplomacy, and European wars. The +weakness of the imperial control was recognized and frequently +complained of by governors, Boards of Trade, and other officials; but +so long as the colonies continued to supply the sugar, furs, lumber and +masts called for by the Acts, bought largely from English shippers and +manufacturers, and stimulated the growth of British shipping, the Whig +and Tory noblemen were content. The rapidly growing republicanism of +the provincial and proprietary governments was ignored and allowed to +develop unchecked. A half-century of complaints from thwarted +governors, teeming with suggestions that England ought to take the +government of the colonies into its own hands, produced no results +beyond creating in official circles an opinion unfavourable to the +colonists. + +In the years of the French war, 1754-1760, the utter incompatibility +between imperial theories on the one hand and colonial political habits +on the other, could no longer be disregarded. In the midst of the +struggle, the legislatures continued to wrangle with governors over +points of privilege; they were slow to vote supplies; they were {27} +dilatory in raising troops; they hung back from a jealous fear that +their neighbour colonies might fail to do their share; they were ready +to let British soldiers do all the hard fighting. Worse still, the +colonial shipowners persisted in their trade with the French and +Spanish West Indies, furnishing their enemies with supplies, and buying +their sugar and molasses as usual. When, in Boston, writs of +assistance were employed by the customs officials, in order that by a +general power of search they might discover such smuggled property, the +merchants protested in the courts, and James Otis, a fiery young +lawyer, boldly declared the writs an infringement of the rights of the +colonists, unconstitutional, and beyond the power of Parliament to +authorize. To Ministers engaged in a tremendous war for the overthrow +of France, the behaviour of the colonies revealed a spirit scarcely +short of disloyalty, and a weakness of government no longer to be +tolerated. The Secretaries, the Board of Trade, the customs officials, +army officers, naval commanders, colonial governors, and judges all +agreed that the time had come for a thorough and drastic reform. They +approached the task purely and simply as members of the English +governing classes, ignorant of the colonists' political ideas and +totally indifferent to their views; and their measures were framed in +the spirit {28} of unquestioning acceptance of the principles of the +Acts of Trade as a fundamental national policy. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CONTEST OVER PARLIAMENTARY TAXATION, 1763-1773 + +The Prime Minister responsible for the new colonial policy was George +Grenville, who assumed his position in May, 1763, shortly after the +final treaty of Paris. Every other member of his Cabinet was a +nobleman, Grenville himself was brother of an earl, and most of them +had had places in preceding Ministries. It was a typical +administration of the period, completely aristocratic in membership and +spirit, quite indifferent to colonial views, and incapable of +comprehending colonial ideals even if they had known them. To them the +business in hand was a purely practical one; and with confident energy +Grenville pushed through a series of measures, which had been carefully +worked out, of course, by minor officials unknown to fame, during the +preceding months, {29} but which were destined to produce results +undreamed of by any one in England. + +In the first place, there were a number of measures to strengthen and +revivify the Acts of Trade. Colonists were given new privileges in the +whale fishery, hides and skins were "enumerated," and steps were taken +to secure a more rigorous execution of the Acts by the employment of +naval vessels against smuggling. A new Sugar Act reduced the tariff on +foreign sugar to such a point that it would be heavily protective +without being prohibitive, and at the same time imposed special duties +on Portuguese wines, while providing additional machinery for +collecting customs. This was clearly aimed at the weak point in the +existing navigation system; but it introduced a new feature, for the +sugar duties, unlike previous ones, were intended to raise a revenue, +and this, it was provided in the Act, should be used to pay for the +defence of America. + +A second new policy was inaugurated in a proclamation of October, 1763, +which made Florida and Canada despotically governed provinces, and set +off all the land west of the head-waters of the rivers running into the +Atlantic as an Indian reservation. No further land grants were to be +made in that region, nor was any trade to be permitted with the Indians +save by royal licence. The {30} Imperial government thus assumed +control of Indian policy, and endeavoured to check any further growth +of the existing communities to the West. Such a scheme necessitated +the creation of a royal standing army in America on a larger scale than +the previous garrisons; and this plan led to the third branch of the +new policy, which contemplated the positive interposition of Parliament +to remedy the shortcomings of colonial assemblies. An Act of 1764 +prohibited the future issue of any paper money by any colony, thus +terminating one of the chief grievances of British governors and +merchants. But still more striking was an Act of 1765, which provided +with great elaboration for the collection of a stamp tax in the +colonies upon all legal documents, newspapers, and pamphlets. The +proceeds were to be used to pay about one-third of the cost of the new +standing army, which was to consist of ten thousand men. Taken in +connection with the announced intention of using the revenue from the +Sugar Act for the same purpose, it is obvious that Grenville's measures +were meant to relieve the Imperial government from the necessity of +depending in future upon the erratic and unmanageable colonial +legislatures. They were parts of a general political and financial +programme. There is not the slightest evidence that Grenville or his +associates dreamed {31} that they were in any way affecting the +colonists' rights or restricting their liberties. Grenville did +consult the colonial agents--individuals authorized to represent the +colonial assemblies in England--but simply with a view to meeting +practical objections. The various proclamations or orders were issued +without opposition, and the bills passed Parliament almost unnoticed. +The British governing class was but slightly concerned with colonial +reform: the Board of Trade, the colonial officials, and the responsible +Ministers were the only people interested. + +To the astonishment of the Cabinet and of the English public, the new +measures, especially the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act, raised a storm of +opposition in the colonies unlike anything in their history. The +reasons are obvious. If the new Sugar Act was to be enforced, it meant +the end of the flourishing French West India intercourse and the death +of the "triangular" trade. Every distiller, shipowner, and exporter of +fish, timber, or grain, felt himself threatened with ruin. If the +Stamp Act were enforced, it meant the collection of a tax from +communities already in debt from the French wars, which were in future +to be denied the facile escape from heavy taxes hitherto afforded by +bills of credit. But the economic burdens threatened were almost lost +sight of in the political {32} dangers. If England meant to impose +taxes by parliamentary vote for military purposes, instead of calling +upon the colonists to furnish money and men, it meant a deadly blow to +the importance of the assemblies. They could no longer exercise +complete control over their property and their finances. They would +sink to the status of mere municipal bodies. So far as the Americans +of 1765 were concerned, the feeling was universal that such a change +was intolerable, that if they ceased to have the full power to give or +withhold taxes at their discretion they were practically slaves. + +In every colony there sprang to the front leaders who voiced these +sentiments in impassioned speeches and pamphlets; for the most part +young men, many of them lawyers accustomed to look for popular approval +in resisting royal governors. Such men as James Otis and Samuel Adams +in Massachusetts, William Livingston in New York, Patrick Henry in +Virginia, Christopher Gadsden in South Carolina denounced the Stamp Act +as tyrannous, unconstitutional, and an infringement of the liberties of +the colonists. Popular anger rose steadily until, in the autumn, when +the stamps arrived, the people of the thirteen colonies had nerved +themselves to the pitch of refusing to obey the Act. Under pressure +from crowds of angry men, {33} every distributor was compelled to +resign, the stamps were in some cases destroyed, and in Boston the +houses of unpopular officials were mobbed and sacked. Before the +excitement, the governors stood utterly helpless. They could do +nothing to carry out the Act. + +In October, delegates representing nearly all the colonies met at New +York, and drafted resolutions expressing their firm belief that no tax +could legally be levied upon them but by their own consent, given +through their legislatures. It was the right of Englishmen not to be +taxed without their consent. Petitions in respectful but determined +language were sent to the King and to Parliament, praying for the +repeal of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act. For the first time in their +history, the colonies stood together in full harmony to denounce and +reject an Act passed by Parliament. As a social and political fact, +this unanimous demonstration of colonial feeling was of profound +significance. The ease and ability with which the lawyers, planters, +farmers, or merchants directed the popular excitement into effective +channels showed the widespread political education of the Americans. A +not dissimilar excitement in London in the same years found no other +means of expressing itself than bloody rioting. It was American {34} +republicanism showing its strongest aspect in political resistance. + +The issue thus presented to the British government was one demanding +the most careful consideration and far-seeing wisdom in its treatment. +Grenville's measures, however admirable and reasonable in themselves, +had stirred the bitter opposition of all the colonists, and the +enforcement or modification of them called for steadiness and courage. +Were the English governing noblemen of the day ready to persist in the +new policy? If so, it meant violent controversy and possibly colonial +insurrection; but the exertion of British authority, if coupled with +strong naval pressure, ought to prevail. Angry as the colonists were, +their language indicates that revolution was not in their thoughts; +and, if there was one quality beyond all others in which the British +aristocracy excelled, it was an inflexible tenacity when once a policy +was definitely embraced. Unfortunately for both sides, the clear-cut +issue thus raised was obscured and distorted by the presence on the +throne of an ambitious young prince with a policy which threw British +domestic affairs into unexampled confusion. + +George III, obstinate, narrow-minded, and determined to make his own +will felt in the choice of Ministers and the direction of affairs, had +succeeded his grandfather in 1760. Too {35} astute to violate the +fast-bound tradition of the British constitution that he must govern +only through Ministers, he saw that to have his own way he must secure +political servants who, while acting as Cabinet Ministers, should take +their orders from him. He also saw that to destroy the hold of the +Whig family cliques he must enter politics himself and buy, intimidate, +and cajole in order to win a following for his Ministers in parliament. +With this ideal in view, he subordinated all other considerations to +the single one of getting subservient Ministers, and fought or +intrigued against any Cabinet which did not accept his direction, +until, in 1770, he finally triumphed. In the meantime he had kept +England under a fluctuating succession of Ministries which forbade the +maintenance of any coherent or authoritative colonial policy such as +alone could have prevented disaster. + +In 1761 George III tried to induce Parliament to accept the leadership +of the Earl of Bute, his former tutor, who had never held public +office; but his rapid rise to the Premiership aroused such jealousy +among the nobility and such unpopularity among the people that the +unfortunate Scot quailed before the storm of ridicule and abuse. He +resigned in 1763, and was succeeded by Grenville, who instantly showed +George III that he would take no dictation. On the contrary, {36} he +drove the King to the point of fury by his masterfulness. In +desperation, George then turned to the Marquis of Rockingham who, if +equally determined to decline royal dictation, was personally less +offensive to him; and there came in a Ministry of the usual type, all +noblemen but two minor members, and all belonging to "connections" +different from those of the Grenville Ministry. Thus it was that, when +the unanimous defiance of the Americans reached England, the Ministers +responsible for the colonial reforms were out of office, and the +Rockingham Whigs had assumed control, feeling no obligation to continue +anything begun by their predecessors. George III's interposition was +responsible for this situation. + +When Parliament met in January, 1766, the colonists received powerful +allies, first in the British merchants, who petitioned against the Act +as causing the practical stoppage of American purchases, and second in +William Pitt, who, in a burning speech, embraced in full the colonists' +position, and declared that a parliamentary tax upon the plantations +was absolutely contrary to the rights of Englishmen. He "rejoiced that +America has resisted." This radical position found few followers; but +the Whig Ministry, after some hesitation, decided to grant the colonial +demands while insisting {37} on the imperial rights of Parliament. +This characteristically English action was highly distasteful to the +majority in the House of Lords, who voted to execute the law, and to +George III, who disliked to yield to mutinous subjects; but they were +forced to give way. The Stamp Act was repealed, and the sugar duties +were reduced to a low figure. At the same time a Declaratory Act was +passed, asserting that Parliament had full power to bind the colonies +"in all cases whatsoever." Thus the Americans had their way in part, +while submitting to seeing their arguments rejected. + +The consequences of this unfortunate affair were to bring into sharp +contrast the British and the American views of the status of the +colonies. The former considered them as parts of the realm, subject +like any other part to the legislative authority of King, Lords, and +Commons. The contention of the colonists, arising naturally from the +true situation in each colonial government, that the rights of +Englishmen guaranteed their freedom from taxation without +representation, was answered by the perfectly sound legal assertion +that the colonists, like all the people of England, were "virtually" +represented in the House of Commons. The words, in short, meant one +thing in England, another thing in America. English speakers {38} and +writers pointed to the scores of statutes affecting the colonies, +calling attention especially to the export duties of the Navigation Act +of 1672, and the import duties of the Act of 1733, not to mention its +revision of 1764. Further, Parliament had regulated provincial coinage +and money, had set up a postal service, and established rates. +Although Parliament had not imposed any such tax as the Stamp Act, it +had, so far as precedent showed, exercised financial powers on many +occasions. + +To meet the British appeal to history, the colonists developed the +theory that commercial regulation, including the imposition of customs +duties, was "external" and hence lay naturally within the scope of +imperial legislation, but that "internal" taxation was necessarily in +the hands of the colonial assemblies. There was sufficient +plausibility in this claim to commend it to Pitt, who adopted it in his +speeches, and to Benjamin Franklin, the agent for Pennsylvania, already +well known as a "philosopher," who expounded it confidently when he was +examined as an expert on American affairs at the bar of the Commons. +It was, however, without any clear legal justification, and, as English +speakers kept pointing out, it was wholly incompatible with the +existence of a genuine imperial government. That it was {39} a +perfectly practical distinction, in keeping with English customs, was +also true; but that was not to be realized until three-quarters of a +century later. + +With the repeal of the objectionable law the uproar in America ceased, +and, amid profuse expressions of gratitude to Pitt, the Ministry, and +the King, the colonists returned to their normal activities. The other +parts of the Grenville programme were not altered, and it was now +possible for English Ministers, by a wise and steady policy, to improve +the weak spots in the colonial system without giving undue offence to a +population whose sensitiveness and obstinate devotion to entire +self-government had been so powerfully shown. Unfortunately, the King +again interposed his influence in such wise as to prevent any rational +colonial policy. In the summer of 1766, tiring of the Rockingham +Ministry, he managed to bring together an odd coalition of political +groups under the nominal headship of the Duke of Grafton. Pitt, who +disliked the family cliques, accepted office and the title of Earl of +Chatham, hoping to lead a national Ministry. The other elements were +in part Whig, and in part representatives of the so-called "King's +Friends"--a growing body of more or less venal politicians who clung to +George's support for the sake of the patronage to be {40} gained--and +several genuine Tories who looked to a revived royal power to end the +Whig monopoly. From such a Cabinet no consistent policy was to be +expected, save under leadership of a man like Pitt. Unfortunately the +latter was immediately taken with an illness which kept him out of +public life for two years; and Grafton, the nominal Prime Minister, was +utterly unable to hold his own against the influence and intrigues of +the King. From the start, accordingly, the Ministry proved weak and +unstable, and it allowed a new set of colonial quarrels to develop. + +Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, one of the originators +of the new colonial policy under the Bute Ministry, was so ill-advised +as to renew the attempt to raise a colonial revenue by parliamentary +taxation. His manner of proposing the measure gave the impression that +it was a piece of sheer bravado on his part, intended to regain the +prestige which he had lost by failing to carry all of his first budget; +but the nature of the scheme indicates its close connection with the +Grenville ideals. Avoiding the appearance of a direct internal tax, he +caused the imposition of duties on glass, painters' colours, paper, and +tea, without any pretence of regulating commerce, but for the announced +purpose of defraying the expenses {41} of governors and judges in the +colonies. Another measure established an American Board of +Commissioners for customs. Still another punished the province of New +York for failing to comply with an Act of 1765 authorizing quartering +of troops in the colonies. The assembly was forbidden to pass any law +until it should make provision for the soldiers in question. +Ex-governor Pownall of Massachusetts, now in Parliament, did not fail +to warn the House of the danger into which it was running; but his +words were unheeded, and the Bills passed promptly. + +The result of these measures was inevitable. Every political leader in +the colonies--nay, every voter--saw that the Townshend duties, while in +form "external," were pure revenue measures, unconnected with the Acts +of Trade, and intended to strike at colonial independence in a vital +point. If Great Britain undertook henceforward to pay the salaries of +royal officials, one of the principal sources of power would be taken +away from the assemblies. Instantly the distinction of "external" and +"internal" taxation was abandoned; and from end to end of the Atlantic +seaboard a cry went up that the duties were an insidious attack on the +liberties of the Americans, an outrageous taking of their property +without their consent, and a wanton interference with their {42} +governments. Not merely agitators such as the shrewd Samuel Adams and +the eloquent Patrick Henry uttered these views, but men of far more +considerable property and station--such as John Jay and New York +landowners and importers, John Dickinson and the Philadelphia +merchants, George Washington and the Virginia planters. While no +general Congress was summoned, the legislatures of the colonies adopted +elaborate resolutions, pamphleteers issued a stream of denunciations, +and, most important of all, a concerted effort was made to break down +the Acts by abstaining from any importations, not only of the taxed +commodities, but, so far as possible, of any British products. +Commercial boycott, it was hoped, would have the same effect as at the +time of the Stamp Act. + +By this time the colonial argument had come to assume a much broader +character, for, in order to deny the validity of the New York Assembly +Act and the Townshend duties, it became necessary to assert that +Parliament, according to "natural rights," had no legislative authority +over the internal affairs of a colony. This was vested, by the +constitution of each province or chartered colony, in the Crown and the +colonial legislature. Such a theory reduced the imperial tie to little +more than a personal union through the monarch, coupled with the {43} +admitted power of Parliament to regulate commerce and navigation. +Evidently, as in all such cases, the theory was framed to justify a +particular desire, namely, to keep things where they had been prior to +1763. The sole question at issue was, in reality, one of power, not of +abstract or legal right. Once more it was clear to men of penetrating +vision that the American colonies needed extremely careful handling. +Whether their arguments were sound or fallacious, loyal or seditious, +it was significant that the whole continent spoke with one voice and +felt but one desire--to be allowed to exercise complete financial +discretion and to retain full control over governors and judges. +Unfortunately the condition of things in England was such that a cool +or steady treatment of the question was becoming impossible. In the +first place, the Grafton Ministry was reconstituted in 1768, the +"Pittite" elements withdrawing, and being replaced by more King's +Friends and Tories, while George III's influence grew predominant. +Townshend died in September, 1767, but his place was taken by Lord +North, a Tory and especially subservient to the King. A new +secretaryship for the colonies was given to Lord Hillsborough, who had +been in the Board of Trade in the Grenville Ministry, and represented +his views. Neither of these {44} men was inclined to consider colonial +clamour in any other light than as unpardonable impudence and sedition. +In the second place, the old Whig family groups were fast assuming an +attitude of bitter opposition to the new Tories, and by 1768 were +prepared to use the American question as a convenient weapon to +discredit the Ministry. They were quite as aristocratic in temper as +the ministerial party, but advocated forbearance, conciliation, and +calmness in dealing with the Americans, in speeches as remarkable for +their political good sense as for their ferocity toward North, +Hillsborough, and the rest. While the Ministry drew its views of the +American situation from royal governors and officials, the Whigs +habitually consulted with Franklin and the other colonial agents, who +occupied a quasi-diplomatic position. Thus the American question +became a partisan battleground. The Tories, attacked by the Whigs, +developed a stubborn obstinacy in holding to a "firm" colonial policy, +and exhibited a steady contempt and anger toward their American +adversaries which was in no small degree due to the English party +antagonism. + +Still further to confuse the situation, there occurred at this time the +contest of John Wilkes, backed by the London mob, against the Grafton +Ministry. This demagogue, able {45} and profligate, had already come +into conflict with the Grenville Ministry in 1765, and had been driven +into exile. Now, in 1768, he returned and was repeatedly elected to +the Commons, and as often unseated by the vindictive ministerial +majority. Riots and bloodshed accompanied the agitation; and Wilkes +and his supporters, backed by the parliamentary Whigs, habitually +proclaimed the same doctrines of natural rights which were universally +asserted in America. To the King and his Cabinet, Wilkes and the +American leaders appeared indistinguishable. They were all brawling, +disorderly, and dangerous demagogues, deserving of no consideration. + +Under these circumstances, the complaints of the colonists, although +supported by the Whigs and by Chatham, received scant courtesy in +England. The Grafton Ministry showed nothing but an irritated +intention to maintain imperial supremacy by insisting on the taxes and +demanding submissiveness on the part of the assemblies. A series of +"firm" instructions was sent out by Hillsborough, typical of which was +an order that the Massachusetts legislature must rescind its circular +letter of protest under threat of dissolution, and that the other +assemblies must repudiate the letter under a similar menace. The sole +result was a series of embittered wrangles, dissolutions, protests, +{46} and quarrels which left the colonists still more inflamed. Then, +at the suggestion of the Commissioners of Customs, two regiments of +troops were sent to Boston to over-awe that particularly defiant +colony. There being no legislature in session, the Massachusetts towns +sent delegates to a voluntary convention which drafted a protest. +Immediately, this action was denounced by Hillsborough as seditious and +was censured by Parliament; while the Duke of Bedford moved that an old +statute of Henry VIII, by which offenders outside the realm could be +brought to England for trial, should be put into operation against the +colonial agitators. When the Virginia legislature protested against +this step, it was dissolved. Hillsborough and North acted as though +they believed that a policy of scolding and nagging, if made +sufficiently disagreeable, would bring the colonists to their senses. +That the Whigs did not cease to pour contempt and ridicule on the folly +of such behaviour was probably one reason why the government persisted +in its course. The American question was coming to be beyond the reach +of reason. + +Yet in 1769 the Ministry could not avoid recognizing that as financial +measures the Townshend duties were a hopeless failure, since their net +proceeds were less than 300 pounds and the increased military expenses +were {47} declared by Pownall to be over 170,000 pounds. On May 1, +1769, the Cabinet voted to repeal the taxes on glass, colours, and +paper, but by a majority of one determined to keep the tea duty. This +decision was due to the complaisance of Lord North, who saw the +unwisdom of the step, but yielded to the King's wish to retain one tax +in order to assert the principle of parliamentary supremacy. A year +later, the Grafton Ministry finally broke up; and Lord North assumed +control, with a Cabinet composed wholly of Tories and supported by +George III to the full extent of his power, through patronage, bribes, +social pressure, and political proscription. North himself was +inclined to moderation in colonial matters. He carried the promised +repeal of all the duties but the tea tax, and in 1772 replaced the +arrogant and quarrelsome Hillsborough with the more amiable Lord +Dartmouth. It looked for a while as though the political skies might +clear, for the American merchants, tired of their self-imposed +hardships, began to weaken in opposition. In 1769 the New York +assembly voted to accept the parliamentary terms; and in 1770 the +merchants of that colony voted to abandon general non-importation, +keeping only the boycott on tea. This led to the general collapse of +the non-importation agreements; but the colonial temper continued to be +defiant and {48} suspicious, and wrangling with governors was incessant. + +Occasional cases of violence confirmed the English Tories in their low +view of the Americans. In March, 1770, a riot in Boston between town +rowdies and the soldiers brought on a shooting affray in which five +citizens were killed. This created intense indignation throughout the +colonies, regardless of the provocation received by the soldiers, and +led to an annual commemoration of the "Boston Massacre," marked by +inflammatory speeches. The soldiers, however, when tried for murder in +the local courts, were defended by prominent counsel, notably John +Adams, and were acquitted. Two years later, on June 9, 1772, the +_Gaspee_, a naval schooner, which had been very active in chasing +smugglers in Rhode Island waters, was burned by a mob, and its captain +taken prisoner. The utmost efforts of the home government failed to +secure the detection or punishment of any one of the perpetrators. + +Finally, in December, 1773, a still more serious explosion occurred. +The North Ministry, desirous of assisting the East India Company, which +was burdened with debt, removed practically all restrictions on the +exportation of tea to America in hopes of increasing the sale by +reducing the price. To the colonial leaders, now in a state of {49} +chronic irritation, this measure seemed an insulting and insidious +attempt to induce the Americans to forget their principles and buy the +tea because it was cheap. It was denounced from end to end of the +country in burning rhetoric; and when the cargoes of tea arrived their +sale was completely prevented by the overwhelming pressure of public +opinion. Consignees, waited on by great crowds, hastened to resign; +and the tea was either seized for nonpayment of duties and allowed to +spoil, or was sent back. In Boston, however, the Governor, Hutchinson, +stiffly refused to let the tea ships depart without landing the tea, +whereat the exasperated citizens watched an organized mob of disguised +men board the ships and throw the tea into the harbour. Once more the +unanimous voice of the colonies defied a parliamentary Act. + +Such was the situation in 1773. Thirteen groups of British colonists, +obstinately local in their interests, narrowly insistent on +self-government, habituated to an antagonistic attitude toward royal +governors, but, after all has been said, unquestionably loyal to the +Crown and the home country, had been transformed into communities on +the verge of permanent insubordination. Incapable of changing all +their political habits, they could see in the British policy only a +purpose {50} to deprive them of that self-government which was +inseparable from liberty. The Crown Ministers, on the other hand, +unable to discover anything illegal, oppressive, or unreasonable in any +of their measures, found no explanation of the extravagant +denunciations of the colonial radicals other than a determination to +foment every possible difficulty with a view to throwing off all +obedience. While Adams, Dickinson, Henry, Gadsden and the rest +demanded their "rights," and protested against "incroachments" on their +liberties, Bedford, Hillsborough, North, and Dartmouth insisted on the +"indecency," "insolence," and "disloyalty" shown by the Americans. The +colonial republicans and the British noblemen were unable to speak the +same language. Yet the time had come to face the situation, and it was +the duty of the Ministers to assume the task with something more +serious than reproofs and legal formulae. The contest for power now +begun must lead, unless terminated, straight to a disruption of the +Empire. + + + + +{51} + +CHAPTER III + +THE DISRUPTION OF THE EMPIRE, 1773-1776 + +When the news reached England that the people of the town of Boston had +thrown the tea of the East India Company into the harbour, the patience +of the North ministry, already severely strained, reached an end. Its +members felt--and most of the English people felt with them--that to +submit to such an act of violence was impossible. Every consideration +of national dignity demanded that Boston and its rioters should be +punished, and that the outrage done to the East India Company should +receive atonement. Hitherto, they said, the contumacious colonists had +been dealt with chiefly by arguments, reproofs, and, as it seemed to +most Englishmen, with concessions and kindnesses which had won only +insult and violence. + +It was resolved to make an example of the delinquent community; and the +first step was to humiliate its representative, Benjamin Franklin. +Ever since 1765 he had been residing in England, respected as a +philosopher and admired as a wit, bearing a sort of diplomatic +character through his position as agent for the assemblies of +Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. In close {52} association +with the Whig opposition, he was undoubtedly the best-known American, +and among the most influential. Now, in 1774, having to present a +petition from Massachusetts to the Privy Council for the removal of +Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, Franklin found it an awkward feature of +the case that the colony's charges were based on private letters which +he himself had in some way acquired and sent to Boston. The Court +party determined to crush him, and at the hearing put forward +Wedderburn, the Solicitor-General--a typical King's Friend--who passed +over the subject of the petition to brand Franklin in virulent +invective as a thief and scoundrel. Amidst general applause, the +petition was rejected as false and scandalous, and Franklin was +dismissed from his position of colonial Postmaster-General. + +When Parliament met, it was instantly made clear that the sole idea +controlling King, Cabinet, and the majority of Members was to bring the +Massachusetts colonists to their senses by severe punitive legislation. +The Whig opposition did not attempt to defend the destruction of the +tea; but it spared no effort to make the Ministers see the folly of +striking at effects and ignoring causes. In a masterly speech of April +19, 1774, Burke showed that the insistence on submission regardless of +the grievances and of the nature {53} of the colonists was a dangerous +and absurd policy, and Pownall and Chatham repeated his arguments, but +without avail. The Ministerial party saw no danger, and felt nothing +but the contempt of an irritated aristocracy. The original ideals of a +general colonial reform were now lost sight of; the men responsible for +them had all passed off the stage; Grenville, Townshend, and Halifax +were dead, and North, careless and subservient to George III, +Hillsborough, Suffolk, Sandwich, and Rochford--all noblemen, and in +many cases inefficient--did not see beyond the problem of coercing +noisy and troublesome rioters, indistinguishable from the followers of +Wilkes. Over and over again they reiterated that the colonists' +resentment was not to be feared, that they would submit to genuine +firmness, that they were all cowardly and dared not resist a few +regular troops. Lord George Germaine earned the thanks of Lord North +by declaring that the colonists were only "a tumultuous and noisy +rabble," men who ought to be "following their mercantile employment and +not attempting to govern." Not a gleam of any other statesmanship +appears in any of the Ministerial speeches than that displayed in the +determination to exact complete submission. + +There were passed, accordingly, by the full Ministerial majority, five +measures known as {54} the Coercive Acts, or, in America, as the Five +Intolerable Acts. The first one punished Boston by closing the port to +all trade until the offending town should recompense the East India +Company for the tea destroyed. The next altered the government of +Massachusetts Bay by making the councillors appointive instead of +elective, by placing the appointment and removal of all judicial +officers entirely in the hands of the governor, by placing the +selection of jurors in the hands of the sheriffs and prohibiting +town-meetings--apart from the annual one to elect officers--without the +governor's permission. A third Act authorized the transfer to England +for trial of British officers charged with murder committed while in +discharge of their duties. A fourth Act re-established the system of +quartering troops. + +The fifth Act reorganized the province of Quebec, whose government, +under the Proclamation of 1763, had proved defective in several +respects. The legal institutions of the new colony were not well +adapted to the mixed French and British inhabitants, and the religious +situation needed definition. The Quebec Act altered the government of +the province by the creation of an appointive council, authorized the +Catholic Church to collect tithes, and allow the French to substitute +an oath of allegiance for the oath of {55} supremacy. Moreover, French +civil law was permitted to exist. At the same time the boundaries of +the province were extended into the region west of the mountains so as +to include the lands north of the Ohio River. + +With the passage of these Acts, the original causes for antagonism were +superseded. The commissioners of customs might have enforced the +Navigation Acts indefinitely; the objectionable Tea Act might have +stood permanently on the statute-book; but, without a more tangible +grievance, it is not easy to conceive of the colonists actually +beginning a revolution. The time had now come when a more serious +issue was raised than the right of Parliament to collect a revenue by a +tariff in the colonies. If Parliament was to be allowed to crush the +prosperity of a colonial seaport, to centralize a hitherto democratic +government created by a royal charter, and to remove royal officers +from the scope of colonial juries, it was clear that the end of all the +powers and privileges wrung from royal or proprietary governors by +generations of struggle was at hand. Yet the striking feature in this +punitive legislation was that the North Ministry expected it to meet no +resistance, although its execution, so far as the government of +Massachusetts was concerned, rested on the consent of the colonists. +There was, under the British {56} system, no administrative body +capable of carrying out these laws, no military force except the few +regiments in Boston, and no naval force beyond a few frigates and +cruisers. The mere passage of the laws, according to North and to Lord +Mansfield, was sufficient to bring submission. + +Nothing more clearly shows the profound ignorance of the Tory Ministry +than this expectation, for it was instantly disappointed. At the news +of the Acts, the response from America was unanimous. Already the +colonial Whigs were well organized in committees of correspondence, and +now they acted not merely in Massachusetts but in every colony. The +town of Boston refused to vote compensation, and was immediately closed +under the terms of the Port Act. Expressions of sympathy and gifts of +provisions came pouring into the doomed community; while public +meetings, legislatures, political leaders and clergymen, in chorus +denounced the Acts as unconstitutional, cruel, and tyrannous. The +Quebec Act, extending the Catholic religion and French law into the +interior valley under despotic government, was regarded as scarcely +less sinister than the Regulating Act itself. + +Under the efficient organization of the leaders a Continental Congress +met in Philadelphia in October, 1774, to make united {57} protest. +This body, comprising without exception the most influential men in the +colonies, presented a clear contrast to Parliament in that every man +was the representative of a community of freemen, self-governing and +equal before the law. The leaders did not regard themselves in any +sense as revolutionaries. They were simply delegates from the separate +colonies, met to confer on their common dangers. Their action +consisted in the preparation of a petition to the King, addresses to +the people of England, the people of Quebec, and the people of the +colonies, but not to Parliament, since they denied its right to pass +any such laws as those under complaint. The Congress further drew up a +declaration of rights which stated sharply the colonial claims, namely, +that Parliament had no right to legislate for the internal affairs of +the separate colonies. It also adopted a plan for putting commercial +pressure on England by forming an Association whose members pledged +themselves to consume no English products, and organize committees in +every colony to enforce this boycott. The leaders in the body were +destined to long careers of public prominence--such men as George +Washington, Lee, and Patrick Henry of Virginia, Rutledge of South +Carolina, Dickinson of Pennsylvania, Jay of New York, Samuel and John +Adams of {58} Massachusetts. They differed considerably in their +temper, the Massachusetts men being far more ready for drastic words +and deeds than the others; but they held together admirably. If such +protests as theirs could not win a hearing in England, it was hardly +conceivable that any could. + +Meanwhile the situation gave signs of being more explosive in reality +than the respectful words of the Congress implied. In Massachusetts, +the town of Boston showed no sign of submitting, and endured distress +and actual starvation, although much cheered by gifts of food from all +parts of the continent. The new government under the Regulating Act +proved impossible to put into operation, for the popular detestation +was visited in such insulting and menacing forms that the new +councillors and judges dared not serve. More radical action followed. +When Gage, having caused the election of a legislature, prorogued it +before it had assembled, the members none the less gathered. Declaring +that the Regulating Act was invalid, they elected a council, appointed +a committee of safety, and named a receiver of taxes. On February 1, +1775, a second Provincial Congress was chosen by the towns, which had +not even a nominal sanction by the governor. The colony was, in fact, +in peaceful revolution, for Gage found himself unable to collect {59} +taxes or to make his authority respected as governor beyond the range +of his bayonets. Equally significant was it that in several other +colonies, where the governors failed to call the legislatures, +provincial congresses or conventions were spontaneously elected to +supervise the situation and choose delegates to the Continental +Congress. + +So deep was the popular anger in Massachusetts Bay that the collection +of arms and powder and the organization of militia were rapidly begun. +Clearly, the Massachusetts leaders were preparing to persist to the +verge of civil war. But by this time there began to be felt in the +colonies a countercurrent of protest. As the situation grew darker, +and men talked openly of possible separation unless the intolerable +wrongs were redressed, all those whose interests or whose loyalty +revolted at the idea of civil war became alarmed at the danger. Soon +men of such minds began to print pamphlets, according to the fashion of +the time, and to attempt to prevent the radicals from pushing the +colonies into seditious courses. But the position of these +conservatives was exceedingly difficult, for they were obliged to +apologize for the home country at a time when every act on the part of +that country indicated a complete indifference to colonial prejudices. +Their arguments against {60} revolution or independence left, after +all, no alternative except submission. Denounced as Tories by the +hotter radicals, they found themselves at once more and more alarmed by +the daring actions of the Whigs, and more detested by the excited +people of their communities. + +The action of the British government after these events showed no +comprehension of the critical situation into which they were rushing. +George III and North secured in the election of 1774 a triumphant +majority of the Commons, and felt themselves beyond reach of danger at +home. The arguments of the colonists, the protests of the Continental +Congress, fell upon indifferent ears. Although Burke and Chatham +exerted themselves with astonishing eloquence in the session of +Parliament which began in November 1774, the Whig motions for +conciliation were voted down by the full Ministerial majority. +Petitions from merchants, who felt the pressure of the Non-importation +Association, were shelved. So far as the policy of the Ministry may be +described, it consisted of legislation to increase the punishment of +Massachusetts Bay and extend it to other colonies, and to offer a +conditional exemption from Parliamentary taxation. Both houses of +Parliament declared Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion, and voted to +{61} crush all resistance. An Act was passed on March 30, to restrain +the trade of New England, shutting off all colonial vessels from the +fisheries, and forbidding them to trade with any country but England or +Ireland. By a second Act, in April, this restriction was extended to +all the colonies except New York and Georgia. The only purpose of this +Act was punitive. Every step was fought by the Whig opposition, now +thoroughly committed to the cause of the colonists, but their arguments +had the inherent weakness of offering only a surrender to the +colonists' position which the parliamentary majority was in no mood to +consider. In fact it was only with great difficulty and after a stormy +scene that North induced his party to vote a so-called conciliatory +proposition offering to abstain from taxing any colony which should +make such a fixed provision for civil and judicial officers as would +satisfy Parliament. + +It was only a few days after the passage of the restraining Acts by +Parliament that the long-threatened civil war actually broke out in +Massachusetts. General Gage, aware of the steady gathering of powder +and war material by the revolutionary committee of safety, finally came +to the conclusion that his position required him to break up these +threatening bases of supplies. On April 19, 1775, he sent out a force +of 800 men to {62} Lexington and Concord--towns a few miles from +Boston--with orders to seize or destroy provisions and arms. They +accomplished their purpose, after dispersing with musketry a squad of +farmers at Lexington, but were hunted back to Boston by many times +their number of excited "minute men," who from behind fences and at +every crossroad harassed their retreat. A reinforcement of 1500 men +enabled the raiding party to escape, but they lost over 800 men, and +inflicted a total loss of only 90 in their flight. + +Thus began the American Revolution, for the news of this day of bloody +skirmishing, as it spread, started into flame the excitement of the +colonial Whigs. From the other New England colonies men sprang to +arms, and companies marched to Boston, where they remained in rude +blockade outside the town, unprovided with artillery or military +organization, but unwilling to return to their homes. From the +hill-towns, a band of men surprised Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, +taking the cannon for use around Boston. In every other colony militia +were organized, officers chosen and arms collected, and almost +everywhere, except in Quaker Pennsylvania and in proprietary Maryland, +the governors and royal officials fled to the seacoast to take refuge +in royal ships of war, or resigned their positions at the command {63} +of crowds of armed "minute men." Conventions and congresses, summoned +by committees of safety, were elected by the Whigs and assumed control +of the colonies, following the example of Massachusetts. The British +colonial government, in short, crumbled to nothing in the spring of +1775. Only Gage's force of a few regiments, shut up in Boston, and a +few naval vessels, represented the authority of England in America. + +Again there met a Continental Congress at Philadelphia, whose duty it +was to unify colonial action and to give the colonial answer to the +late parliamentary acts. Once more the ablest men of the colonies were +present, now gravely perturbed over the situation, and divided into two +camps. On the one hand, most of the New Englanders, led by Samuel +Adams and John Adams, his cousin, felt that the time for parley was at +an end, that nothing was to be hoped for from the North Ministry, and +that the only reasonable step was to declare independence. Others +still hoped that George III would realize the extent of the crisis and +be moved to concessions, while yet others, who hoped little, thought +that one more effort should be made to avoid revolution. But none +dreamed of surrender. Of the growing number of Americans who recoiled +in horror from {64} the possibility of independence, and were beginning +to show their dread in every way, not one was in this body. It +represented only the radicals in the several colonies. + +The Congress has been charged with inconsistency, for some of its +measures were impelled by the most radical members, others by the +conservatives. On the one hand, it declined to adopt a form of +federation suggested by Franklin, and authorized Dickinson to draw up a +final, respectful, almost obsequious petition to the King to avoid +war--a document called the "Olive Branch"; but, on the other hand, it +appointed Washington to command the troops near Boston as a Continental +commander, adopted a report censuring the conciliatory proposition in +bold language, and issued an address justifying with extravagant +rhetoric the taking up of arms. Still more daring, it went so far as +to arrange to pay the so-called "Continental army" by means of bills of +credit, redeemable by the united colonies. Later, in 1775, it +appointed a secret committee to correspond with friends abroad, and +undertook extensive measures for raising troops and accumulating +military stores. To the revolted colonies, who found themselves with +no legal authorities, it gave the advice to form such governments as +would secure peace and good order during the continuance {65} of the +existing dispute, a step which was promptly taken by several. + +Fighting meanwhile went on. General Gage, on June 17, undertook to +drive from Charlestown, across the harbour from Boston, a body of about +1,500 provincial troops who had intrenched themselves on Breed's Hill. +In all, about 3,000 British were brought to the attack, while gunboats +raked the peninsula between Charlestown and the mainland, hindering the +arrival of reinforcements. With true British contempt for their +adversaries, the lines of red-uniformed troops marched under the hot +sun up the hill, to be met with a merciless fire at short range from +the rifles, muskets, and fowling pieces of the defenders. Two frontal +attacks were thus repelled with murderous slaughter; but a third +attack, delivered over the same ground, was pushed home, and the +defenders were driven from their redoubt. Never was a victory more +handsomely won or more dearly bought. The assailants lost not less +than 1,000 out of 3,000 engaged, including 92 officers. The Americans +lost only 450, but that was almost as large a proportion. It was +obvious to any intelligent officer that the Americans might have been +cut off from behind and compelled to surrender without being attacked; +but Gage and his subordinates were anxious to teach the rebels a +lesson. The {66} result of this action, known in history as "Bunker +Hill," was to render him and nearly all the officers who served against +Americans unwilling ever again to storm intrenchments. They discovered +that, as Putnam, who commanded part of the forces, observed, the +militia would fight well if their legs were covered. They were later +to discover the converse, that with no protection militia were almost +useless. + +From this time the British force remained quietly in Boston, fed and +supplied from England at immense cost, and making no effort to attack +the miscellaneous levies which General Washington undertook to form +into an army during the summer and autumn. Nothing but the inaction of +the British made it possible for Washington's command to remain, for +they lacked powder, bayonets, horses and, most serious of all, they +lacked all military conceptions. The elementary idea of obedience was +inconceivable to them. Washington's irritation over the perfectly +unconcerned democracy of the New Englanders was extreme; but he showed +a wonderful patience and tenacity, and by sheer persistence began to +create something like a military organization. Yet, even after months +of drill and work the army remained little more than an armed mob. At +length, in March, 1776, Washington managed to {67} place a force on +Dorchester heights, which commanded the harbour from the south. At +first Gage had some idea of attacking, but storms intervened; and +finally, without another blow, he evacuated the city and sailed with +all his force to Halifax. So ended a siege which ought never to have +lasted a month had the British generals been seriously minded to break +it up. + +Other military events consisted of a few skirmishes in Virginia and +North Carolina, where the governors managed to raise small forces of +loyalists, who were thoroughly defeated by the Whig militia, and of a +gallant but hopeless attempt by the rebels to capture Canada. After +some futile efforts on the part of Congress to induce the French to +revolt, two bodies of men, in the autumn of 1775, made their way across +the border. One, entering Canada by way of Lake Champlain, occupied +Montreal, and then advanced against Quebec, where it was joined by the +other, which, with great hardships, had penetrated through the +wilderness of northern Maine. The commanders, Richard Montgomery, +Benedict Arnold, and Daniel Morgan of Virginia, were men of daring, but +their force, numbering not more than 1,000, was inadequate; and, after +the failure of an effort to carry the place by surprise on the night of +December 31--in which Montgomery was {68} killed and Morgan +captured--they were unable to do more than maintain a blockade outside +the fortress. + +The action of the North Ministry during these months showed no +deviation from its policy of enforcing submission. The Olive Branch +petition was refused a reception, and a proclamation was issued +declaring the colonies in rebellion and warning all subjects against +traitorous correspondence. When Parliament met in November, 1775, the +opposition, led as usual by Burke, made one more effort to avoid civil +war; but the Ministerial party rejected all proposals for conciliation, +and devoted itself to preparing to crush the rebellion. On December +22, an Act became law which, if enforced, would have been a sentence of +death to all colonial economic life. It superseded the Boston Port Act +and the restraining Acts, absolutely prohibited all commerce with the +revolted colonies, and authorized the impressment into the navy of all +seamen found on vessels captured under the Act. + +Military and naval preparations were slow and costly. The Admiralty +and War Office, unprepared for a general war, had insufficient troops +and sailors, and had to collect or create supplies and equipment. The +Earl of Sandwich showed activity but slight capacity as First Lord of +the Admiralty. Viscount {69} Barrington had been Secretary at War +under Pitt during the French war, but he lacked force and influence. +Hence, although Parliament voted 50,000 troops, there was confusion and +delay. To secure a prompt supply of men, the Ministry took the step of +hiring German mercenaries from the lesser Rhine princes--Hesse, +Waldeck, and others,--at a rate per head with a fixed sum for deaths. +This practice was customary in wars when England was obliged to protect +Hanover from the French; but to use the same method against their own +kindred in America was looked upon with aversion by many English, and +aroused ungovernable indignation in all Americans. It seemed to show a +callousness toward all ties of blood and speech which rendered any hope +of reconciliation futile. The war was not, in fact, popular in +England. The task of conquering rebels was not relished by many, and +officers and noblemen of Whig connections in some cases resigned their +commissions rather than serve. The parliamentary opposition denounced +the war with fiery zeal as an iniquity and a scandal. Nevertheless, +the general opinion in England supported the Ministry in its +determination to assert the national strength; for the colonial +behaviour seemed to the average Englishman as nothing more or less than +impudent sedition, to yield to which would be disgrace. + +{70} + +To the Americans, the British action in 1776 showed that the only +alternatives were submission or fighting; and, if the latter must be +chosen, then it was the feeling of a growing number that independence +was the only outcome. There now went on a contest between +conservatives, including on one side those who opposed all civil war, +those who were willing to fight to defend rights but who were unwilling +to abandon hopes of forcing England to surrender its claims, and those +whose businesses and connections were closely interwoven with the +mother country and all the radicals on the other. Unfortunately for +the conservatives they had only fear, or sentiment, for arguments, +since the North Ministry gave them nothing to urge upon doubtful men. +Still more unfortunately, they were, as a rule, outside the +revolutionary organizations of conventions and committees, and were +themselves without means of co-operating. + +In the excitement and tension of the time, the ruder and rougher +classes tended to regard all reluctance to join in the revolution as +equivalent to upholding the North policy, and to attack as Tories all +who did not heartily support the revolutionary cause. Violence and +intimidation rapidly made themselves felt. Loyalists were threatened, +forced by mobs to sign the Association; their houses {71} were defiled, +their movements watched. Then [Transcriber's note: Their?] arms were +taken from them, and if they showed anger or temper they were +occasionally whipped or even tarred and feathered. In this way a +determined minority backed by the poorer and rougher classes, overrode +all opposition and swelled a rising cry for independence. + +The Congress was slow, for it felt the need of unanimity; and such +colonies as New York and Pennsylvania were controlled by moderates. +But at length, in June, 1776, spurred on by the Virginia delegates and +by the tireless urgings of the Massachusetts leaders, the body acted. +Already some of the colonies had adopted constitutions whose language +indicated their independence. Now the Continental Congress, after a +final debate, adopted a Declaration of Independence, drafted by +Jefferson of Virginia and supported by the eloquence of John Adams and +the influence of Franklin. Basing their position on the doctrines of +the natural right of men to exercise full self-government and to change +their form of government when it became oppressive, the colonies, in +this famous document, imitated the English Declaration of Rights of +1689 in drawing up a bill of indictment against George III's +government. In this can be discovered every cause of resentment and +every variety of {72} complaint which the thirteen colonies were ready +to put forward. Practically all were political. There were allusions +in plenty to the wrangles between governors and assemblies, +denunciations of the parliamentary taxes and the coercing Acts, but no +reference to the Acts of Trade. To the end, the colonists, even in the +act of declaring independence, found their grievances in the field of +government and not in economic regulation. What they wanted was the +unrestricted power to legislate for themselves and to tax or refrain +from taxing themselves. When these powers were diminished, their whole +political ideal was ruined, and they preferred independence to what +they considered servitude. Such ideas were beyond the comprehension of +most Englishmen, to whom the whole thing was plain disloyalty, however +cloaked in specious words and glittering generalities. + +It has been said that the rupture was due to a spirit of independence +in America which, in spite of all disclaimers, was determined to be +entirely free from the mother country. Such was the assertion of the +Tories and officials of the time, and the same idea is not infrequently +repeated at the present day. But the truth is that the colonists would +have been contented to remain indefinitely in union with England, +subjects of the British {73} crown, sharers of the British commercial +empire, provided they could have been sure of complete local +self-government. The independence they demanded was far less than that +now enjoyed by the great colonial unions of Canada, Australia, and +South Africa. It may be assumed, of course, that unless Parliament +exercised complete authority over internal as well as external +matters--to employ the then customary distinction--there was no real +imperial bond. Such was the position unanimously taken by the North +Ministry and the Tories in 1776. But in view of the subsequent history +of the English colonies it seems hardly deniable that some relationship +similar to the existing colonial one might have been perpetuated had +the Whig policy advocated by Burke been adopted, and the right of +Parliament "to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever" been allowed +to drop, in practice. The obstinate localism of the colonies was such +that not until a generation after the Revolution did a genuine American +national sentiment appear. The colonies were driven to act together in +1774-1776, but not to fuse, by a danger not to national but to local +independence. This fact indicates how sharply defined was the field +which the Americans insisted on having free from parliamentary +invasion. Had it been possible for England {74} to recognize this +fact, there would have been no revolution. + +It is, of course, obvious that the traditional American view of the +Revolution as caused by tyranny and oppression is symbolical, if not +fictitious. The British government, in all its measures, from 1763 to +1774, was moderate, hesitating, and at worst irritating. Its action +threatened to destroy the practical independence of the colonial +assemblies; but the danger was political. Even the five "intolerable +Acts" inflicted hardship on the town of Boston alone. It was not until +the year 1775, when Parliament imposed severe commercial restrictions, +that anything resembling actual oppression began; but by that time the +colonies were in open revolt. + +This fact only emphasizes, as Burke pointed out, the criminal folly of +the North Ministry in allowing the situation to become dangerous. It +was the misfortune of the British people in the eighteenth century +that, in the critical years after 1767, George III and his Ministers +were unable to conceive of any value in colonies which were not in the +full sense dependencies, and were narrowly limited by the economic +ideas of their time and the social conventions of their class. Since +the colonies had developed, unchecked, their own political life under +British government, it was not their duty humbly to {75} surrender all +that had come to be identical with liberty in their eyes. It was the +duty of British statesmen to recognize the situation and deal with it. +This they failed to do, and the result was revolution. + + + + +{75} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CIVIL WAR IN THE EMPIRE, 1776-1778 + +In the war which now began, the military situation was such that +neither side could look forward to an easy victory. Great Britain +outweighed the colonies in population by three or four to one, and in +every element of military strength to a much greater degree. There was +a standing army, an ample sufficiency of professional officers, the +most powerful navy in the world, the full machinery of financial +administration, abundant credit, and wealthy manufacturing and +agricultural classes which has already shown their power to carry the +burdens of a world contest without flinching. With a powerful party +Ministry endowed with full discretion in the ordering of military +affairs, there was little danger of divided {76} councils or of +inability to secure responsible direction. North, Sandwich at the +Admiralty, Barrington as Secretary at War, Germaine as Secretary for +the Colonies, could command the active support of the King, the +Parliament, and, it appeared, of the people. + +On the other hand, it was necessary to carry on war at 3,000 miles +distance from the base of supplies, and to feed and clothe the armies +entirely from home. The cost was certain to be extremely heavy, and +the practical difficulties of management arising from the distance were +sure to be great, unless a competent commander were to be given +complete authority in the colonies. Then, too, the problem was not one +of conquering cities or single strategic points, or of defeating a +rival state, but of so thoroughly beating down resistance as to lead +the Americans to abandon their revolution and submit to the extinction +of their new-formed confederation. Armies must operate inland from a +seacoast where landing was easy in hundreds of places, but where almost +every step took them into a rough country, ill-provided with roads and +lacking in easily collected supplies. In spite of all advantages of +military power, the problem before the British government was one +calling for the highest forms of military capacity, and this, by an +unexplained ill-fortune, was conspicuously {77} lacking. Not a British +general who commanded in America failed to show fighting ability and +tactical sense, but not one of them possessed the kind of genius which +grasps the true military ends of any campaign and ignores minor points +for the sake of winning decisive advantages. Perhaps it would be +unjust to apply to the British forces in this war the designation won +in 1774--"armies of lions led by asses"; but the analogy is at least +suggested. + +Still more serious was the fact that the North Ministry was chosen +mainly on the basis of the willingness of its members to execute the +King's orders and use their influence and parliamentary power and +connections in his behalf. North himself, able as a parliamentarian, +was irresolute in policy, ignorant of war, and careless in +administration; Weymouth and Suffolk, the Secretaries, were of slight +ability; Lord George Germaine, Secretary for the Colonies, was +arrogant, careless, and lacking in military insight; Barrington, +Secretary at War, possessed administrative ability, but was without +personal weight in the cabinet; Sandwich at the Admiralty was grossly +inefficient. There was not a single member of the Cabinet fitted to +carry on war, or able to influence George III. For such a body of men +to undertake to direct the operations in America {78} at the distance +of 3,000 miles was a worse blunder than it would have been to commit +the conduct of the war to any one of the generals in the field, however +commonplace his abilities. + +On the side of the colonists, the problem of fighting the full power of +England was apparently a desperate one. The militia, with superior +numbers, had chased the British from Concord, and had made a stubborn +defence at Bunker Hill; but the British were about to move with +overwhelming strength. To raise, equip, clothe, and feed armies was +the task of a strong administration, and there was nothing of the kind +in America. The ex-colonists not only had never known efficient +administration; they had fought against any and all administration for +generations, and their leaders had won their fame as opponents of all +executive power. To thunder against royal oppression won applause, but +indicated no ability at raising money and organizing such things as +commissariat, artillery, or a navy; and it may be said of such men as +Samuel Adams, Robert Morris, Roger Sherman, John Rutledge, Patrick +Henry, and Thomas Jefferson that their administrative training was as +far below that of their enemies in the North Ministry as their +political capacity was, in general, superior. + +{79} + +The Continental Congress, moreover, which assumed responsibility for +the army, could only recommend measures to the States, and call upon +them to furnish troops and money. In contrast to the States, which +derived their powers unquestionably from the voters within their +boundaries and could command their obedience, the Congress had no legal +or constitutional basis, and was nothing more than the meeting place of +delegates from voluntary allies. Such military authority as it +exercised rested entirely upon the general agreement of the States. +National government, in short, did not exist. Still more serious was +the fact that there were very few trained officers in America. The +American military leaders, such as Washington, Greene, Wayne, Sullivan, +were distinctly inferior in soldiership to their antagonists, although +Washington and Greene developed greater strategic ability after many +blunders. It was only through sundry military adventurers, some +English--such as Montgomery, Gates, Lee, Conway,--others European--such +as De Kalb, Steuben, Pulaski--that something of the military art could +be acquired. + +Most serious of all, there were no troops in America who comprehended +the nature of military discipline. The conception of obedience to +orders, of military duty, of the {80} absolute necessity of holding +steady, was beyond the range of most Americans. They regarded war as +something to be carried on in their own neighbourhoods, and resisted +obstinately being drawn outside their own States. They refused to +enlist for longer than a few months, since they felt it imperative to +return to look after their farms. They had little regard for men from +different districts, distrusted commanders from any State but their +own, and had no loyalty of any description to the Continental Congress. +They were, in short, still colonists, such as generations of training +had made them; very angry with Great Britain, infuriated at Tories, and +glad to be independent, but unable to realize the meaning of it all +even under the terrible stress of war. + +Under the circumstances, the task of the men to whose lot it fell to +lead the American forces was such as to tax to the utmost not only +their military skill, but their ability to control, inspire, and +persuade the most refractory and unreliable of material. When to this +were added the facts that the colonies were almost wholly lacking in +manufactures except of the most rudimentary sort, that they had little +capital except in the form of land, buildings, vessels, and crops, and +that whatever revenue they had been in the habit of deriving from +commerce was {81} liable to be destroyed by the British naval +supremacy, it is easily seen that the disadvantages of the home country +were actually counterbalanced by the still more crushing disadvantages +of the revolting colonies. + +In the summer of 1776, the British advanced from two quarters. In the +north, as soon as navigation opened, men-of-war sailed up the St. +Lawrence and brought reinforcements to Quebec. The relics of the +American force, unable to maintain themselves in Canada, abandoned +their conquests without a blow, and retreated into the Lake Champlain +region, there intending to hold the forts at Crown Point and +Ticonderoga. Col. Guy Carleton, the new commander, was soon able to +move southward with overwhelming numbers; but, after reaching the +northern end of Lake Champlain, he found that body of water commanded +by a small squadron of gunboats under Benedict Arnold, and, deeming it +impossible to advance, delayed all summer in order to construct a rival +fleet. Meanwhile, all operations came to a standstill in that region. +Eleven thousand men, chiefly regular troops, were thus kept inactive +for months. + +The principal British force gathered at Halifax, and sailed directly +against New York. It was there joined by the remains of a naval +expedition which had endeavoured in June, {82} 1776, to capture +Charleston, South Carolina, but had suffered severely in an attempt to +bombard Fort Moultrie and been compelled to withdraw. This success, +which raised the spirits of the rebels, was, however, the last they +were to enjoy for many months. The main British expedition was +expected to overpower all colonial resistance, for it comprised a fleet +of men-of-war, and an army of no less than 81,000 men, including German +mercenaries, fully equipped, drilled, and provisioned. The admiral in +command, Lord Howe, a Whig, was authorized to issue pardons in return +for submission, and evidently expected the mere presence of so powerful +an armament to cause the collapse of all resistance. His brother, Sir +William Howe, who commanded the army, was a good officer in actual +fighting, but a man of little energy or activity, and unwilling, +apparently, to cause the revolted colonies any more suffering than was +necessary. He was, moreover, quite without military insight of the +larger kind, failing to recognize the peculiar character of the war +upon which he was entering and acting, when pushing on a campaign, +precisely as though he were operating against a European army in west +Germany. + +In spite of all deficiencies, it seemed as though Howe could not fail +to crush the {83} undisciplined collection of 17,000 militia and minute +men with which Washington endeavoured to meet him at New York. +Controlling the harbour and the rivers with his fleet, he could move +anywhere and direct superior numbers against any American position. +The first blow, struck after futile efforts at negotiation, was aimed +at an American force which held Brooklyn Heights on Long Island. About +20,000 British and Hessian troops were landed on August 22; and five +days later they outflanked and crushed a body of Americans placed to +obstruct their advance. There remained the American intrenchments, +which were weak and ill-defended; but Howe refused to attack, probably +with memories of Bunker Hill in his mind. Washington managed, owing to +favourable rainy weather, to remove his beaten force by night on August +29, but only the inaction of Howe enabled them to escape capture. + +There followed a delay of two weeks, during which Admiral Howe +tried to secure an interview with American leaders, in hopes of +inducing the rebels to submit; but, finding Franklin, Adams and +Rutledge--commissioners named by Congress--immovably committed to +independence, he was compelled to renew hostilities. There ensued a +slow campaign in which General Howe easily {84} forced Washington to +evacuate New York, to retreat northward, and after various skirmishes +to withdraw over the Hudson River into New Jersey. At no time did +Washington risk a general engagement; at no time did he inflict any +significant loss upon his antagonist or hinder his advance. The +militia were, in fact, almost useless in the open field, and only dared +linger before the oncoming redcoats when intrenched or when behind +walls and fences. Many of them from New England grew discouraged and +homesick, and left the moment their short enlistments expired; so that +without any serious battles Washington's so-called army dwindled week +by week. On November 16, a severe loss was incurred through the effort +of General Greene to hold Fort Washington, which commanded the Hudson +River from the heights at the northern end of Manhattan Island. This +stronghold, besieged by Howe, made a fair defence, but was taken by +storm, and the whole garrison captured. The American army then, in two +detachments under Washington and Lee respectively, was obliged to +retreat across New Jersey, followed by the British under Cornwallis, +until, by December 8, the remnant was at Philadelphia in a state of +great discouragement and demoralization. The Continental Congress, +fearing capture, fled to Baltimore and, moved to {85} desperate +measures, passed a resolution, giving Washington for six months +unlimited authority to raise recruits, appoint and dismiss officers, +impress provisions, and arrest loyalists. Howe felt that the rebellion +was at an end. On November 30 he issued a proclamation offering pardon +to all who would take the oath of allegiance within sixty days; and +farmers in New Jersey took it by hundreds, securing in return a +certificate of loyalty. The rebels' cause seemed lost. But at the +moment when, if ever, it was worth while to push pursuit to the +uttermost, with the prospect of reducing three colonies and breaking up +all show of resistance, Howe, satisfied with his campaign, began to +prepare winter quarters. + +To the northward, a similar fatality seemed to prevent full British +success. During the summer, General Guy Carleton waited at the +northern end of Lake Champlain while his carpenters built gunboats. +Month after month went by until, on October 11, the British vessels +engaged Arnold's inferior flotilla. Two days of hot fighting with +musketry and cannon resulted in the destruction of the American +squadron, so that the way seemed clear for Carleton to advance; but the +season was late, the difficulties of getting provisions from Canada +seemed excessive, and on November 2 the British {86} withdrew. Here +again only extreme caution and slowness permitted the colonial army to +hold its ground. Yet it seemed doubtful whether the American cause +might not collapse even without further pressure, for the "armies" were +almost gone by sheer disintegration. General Schuyler had a scanty +3,000 near Lake Champlain; Washington could not muster over 6,000 at +Philadelphia, and these were on the points of going home. The attempt +to carry on the war by voluntary militia fighting was a visible failure. + +At this stage, the darkest hour, Washington, who had never dared to +risk a battle, took the bold step of re-crossing the Delaware with part +of his half-starved and shivering troops, and captured nearly all of a +Hessian encampment at Trenton on December 25. Further, he drew on +Cornwallis to advance against him, skirmished successfully on January +2, and then, moving by a night march to the British rear, defeated a +regiment at Princeton. Cornwallis, with 7,000 men, was out-generalled +by Washington in this affair, which was the first really aggressive +blow struck by the Americans. The result was to lead Howe to abandon +the effort to hold all of New Jersey; while Washington was able to post +his men in winter quarters at Morristown, where he could watch every +British move. This masterly {87} little campaign, carried on under +every disadvantage, made Washington's fame secure, and undoubtedly +saved the American revolution from breaking down. It revived the +fighting spirit, encouraged the Congress and the people, and created a +faith in Washington on the part of the soldiers and farmers which was +destined to grow steadily into love and veneration. With no particular +military insight beyond common sense and the comprehension of military +virtues, he was a man of iron will, extreme personal courage, and a +patience and tenacity which had no limit. + +Congress now showed that its members realized in part the military +lesson, for it authorized a standing regular army, and gave Washington +power to establish it and appoint lower officers. It was a hard task +to induce any Americans to enlist in such an organization; but little +by little there were collected "Continental troops" who did not rush +back to their family duties at the end of three months, but stayed and +grew in discipline and steadiness. Yet Washington could never count on +more than a few thousand such; Americans in general simply would not +fight except under pressure of invasion and in defence of their homes. + +During 1776-7, the revolted communities assumed something of the +appearance of settled governments. The States replaced {88} their +revolutionary conventions with constitutions closely modelled upon +their provincial institutions, but with elective governors, and, to +safeguard liberty, full control over legislation, taxation, and most +offices placed in the hands of the legislatures. Executive power was +confined mainly to military matters. The Continental Congress +continued to act as a grand committee of safety, framing +recommendations and requests to the States, and issuing paper money on +the credit of its constituents. Military administration proved a task +beyond the capacity of the new governments, even for such diminutive +armies as those which guarded the northern frontier and New Jersey, and +the forces suffered from lack of food, covering, and powder. The +country had few sources of supplies and wretched roads. + +In 1777, when spring opened, the British armies slowly prepared to push +matters to a definite conclusion. The North Cabinet, especially Lord +George Germaine, had no single coherent plan of operations beyond +continuing the lines laid down in 1776. It was early planned to have +the Canadian force march southward and join Howe, collecting supplies +and gathering recruits as it traversed New York. Howe was told that he +was expected to co-operate, but was not prevented from substituting a +plan of his {89} own which involved capturing Philadelphia, the chief +American town and, as the seat of the Continental Congress, the "rebel +capital." Germaine merely intimated that Howe ought to make such +speedy work as to return in time to meet the Canadian force, but did +not give him any positive order, so Howe considered his plan approved. +In leisurely fashion he tried twice to march across New Jersey in June; +but, although he had 17,000 to Washington's 8,000, he would not risk +leaving the latter in his rear and withdrew. He next determined to +move by water, and began the sea journey on July 5. This process +occupied not less than six weeks, since he first tried to sail up the +Delaware, only to withdraw from before the American forts; and it was +not until August 22 that he finally landed his men at the head of +Chesapeake Bay. + +Meanwhile, General Burgoyne, a man of fashion as well as an officer, +had begun his march southward from Lake Champlain with 7,500 men and +some Indian allies, forced the Americans to evacuate Fort Ticonderoga +without a blow, and chased the garrison to the southward and eastward. +Pushing forward in spite of blocked roads and burned bridges, he +reached the Hudson River on August 1 without mishap, and there halted +to collect provisions and await {90} reinforcements from Tories and +from a converging expedition under St. Leger, which was to join him by +way of Lake Ontario and the Mohawk Valley. Up to this time the +American defence had been futile. It seemed as though nothing could +stop Burgoyne's advance. Congress now appointed a new general, Gates, +to whom Washington sent General Morgan with some of his best troops. +While Burgoyne waited, the militia of New England began collecting, and +presently, on August 15 and 16, two detachments of the British sent to +seize stores at Bennington were surrounded and captured. St. Leger, +unable to manage his Indian allies, or force the surrender of the +American Fort Stanwix, was obliged, on August 22, to retreat. +Burgoyne, with diminishing numbers and no hope of reinforcement, found +himself confronted by rapidly growing swarms of enemies. At the moment +when his need of co-operation from Howe became acute, the latter +general was two hundred miles away in Pennsylvania. + +Under the circumstances, the two campaigns worked themselves out to +independent conclusions. In Pennsylvania, Washington boldly marched +his summer army with its nucleous of veterans out to meet the British, +and challenged a battle along the banks of the Brandywine creek. On +September 11, Howe, with 18,000 men, methodically attacked {91} +Washington, who had not over 11,000, sent a flanking column around his +right wing, and after a stiff resistance pushed the Americans from the +field. There was no pursuit; and four days later Washington was +prevented only by bad weather from risking another fight. He did not +feel able to prevent Howe from entering Philadelphia on September 27; +but on October 3, taking advantage of a division of the British army, +he assumed the offensive at Germantown and brought his unsteady forces +into action, only to suffer another defeat. With this Washington was +forced to abandon operations in the field and to go into winter +quarters at Valley Forge, not far from the city; while Howe besieged +and on November 2 took the American forts on the Delaware. The British +campaign was successful; Philadelphia was theirs, and they had won +every engagement. But nothing shows more clearly Washington's ability +as a fighter and leader than his stubborn contest against odds in this +summer. + +Meanwhile, the Northern campaign came to its conclusion. By September, +Gates, the new commander, found himself at the head of nearly 20,000 +men, and Burgoyne's case grew desperate. He made two efforts to break +through to the southward, at Freeman's Farm, and again at Bemis +Heights, but was {92} met by superior numbers and overwhelmed, in spite +of the gallantry of his troops. Forced back to Saratoga on the Hudson +River, he was surrounded and at length compelled to surrender, on +October 17. Sir Henry Clinton, who commanded the British garrison of +New York in Howe's absence, sent a small expedition up the Hudson; but +it did not penetrate nearer than sixty miles from the spot where +Burgoyne stood at bay, and it achieved nothing more than a raid. So +the northern British force, sent to perform an impossible task, was +destroyed solely because neither Howe nor his superiors realized the +necessity of providing for certain co-operation from the southward. +The prisoners, according to the terms of the surrender, were to be +returned to England; but Congress, owing in part to some complaints of +Burgoyne, chose to violate the agreement, and the captive British and +Hessians were retained. Burgoyne himself returned to England, burning +with anger against Howe and the North Ministry. + +The winter of 1777-8 found the two British armies comfortably housed in +New York and Philadelphia, and Washington, with his handful of +miserably equipped men, presenting the skeleton of an army at Valley +Forge. Congress, now manned by less able leaders than at first, was +almost won over to {93} displacing the unsuccessful commander by Gates, +the victor of Saratoga; and it did go so far as to commit the +administration of the army to a cabal of Gates's friends, who carried +on a campaign of depreciation and backbiting against Washington. But +the whole unworthy plot broke down under a few vigorous words from the +latter, the would-be rival quailing before the Virginian's personal +authority. He was not a safe man to bait. The military headship +remained securely with the one general capable of holding things +together. + +In the winter of 1778, however, a new element entered the game, namely, +the possibility of French intervention. From the outbreak of the +Revolution, very many Americans saw that their former deadly enemy, +France, would be likely to prove an ally against England; and as early +as 1776 American emissaries began to sound the court of Versailles. In +March, 1776, Silas Deane was regularly commissioned by the Continental +Congress, and in the autumn he was followed by no less a person than +Benjamin Franklin. It was the duty of these men to get whatever aid +they could, especially to seek an alliance. The young king, Louis XVI, +was not a man of any independent statecraft; but his ministers, above +all Vergennes, in charge of foreign affairs, were anxious to secure +revenge {94} upon England for the damage done by Pitt, and the tone of +the French court was emphatically warlike. The financial weakness of +the French government, destined shortly to pave the way for the +Revolution, was clearly visible to Turgot, the Minister of Finances, +and he with a few others protested against the expense of a foreign +war; but Vergennes carried the day. + +As early as the summer of 1776, French arms and munitions were being +secretly supplied, while the Foreign Minister solemnly assured the +watchful Lord Stormont, the English Ambassador, of his government's +perfect neutrality. Thousands of muskets, hundreds of cannon, and +quantities of clothes were thus shipped, and sums of money were also +turned over to Franklin. Beaumarchais, the playwright and adventurer, +acted with gusto the part of intermediary; and the lords and ladies of +the French court, amusing themselves with "philosophy" and speculative +liberalism, made a pet of the witty and sagacious Franklin. His +popularity actually rivalled that of Voltaire when the latter, in 1778, +returned to see Paris and die. But not until the colonies had proved +that they could meet the English in battle with some prospect of +success would the French commit themselves openly; and during 1776 and +1777 the tide ran too steadily against {95} the insurgents. Finally, +in December, when the anxieties of Franklin and his associates were +almost unendurable, the news of Burgoyne's surrender was brought to +Paris. The turning-point was reached. Vergennes immediately led the +French King to make two treaties, one for commercial reciprocity, the +other a treaty of military alliance, recognizing the independence of +the United States, and pledging the countries to make no separate +peace. In the spring of 1778 the news reached America; and the war now +entered upon a second stage. + +There can be little doubt that under abler commanders the British +armies might have crushed out all armed resistance in the middle +colonies. In spite of all drawbacks, the trained British soldiers and +officers were so superior in the field to the American levies on every +occasion where the forces were not overwhelmingly unequal that it is +impossible for any but the most bigoted American partisan to deny this +possibility. Had there been a blockade, so that French and Dutch goods +would have been excluded; had General Howe possessed the faintest spark +of energy in following up his successes; had the North Cabinet not +failed to compel Howe to co-operate with Burgoyne, the condition of +things in 1778 might well have been so serious for the colonists' cause +that {96} Vergennes would have felt a French intervention to be +fruitless. In that case, it is hard to see how the rebellion could +have failed to be crushed in the next year. As it was, the Americans, +by luck and by the tenacity of Washington and a few other leaders, had +won the first victory. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FRENCH INTERVENTION AND BRITISH FAILURE, 1778-1781 + +During the two years of fighting, the party situation in England had +grown increasingly bitter. The Whigs, joined now by young Charles Fox, +unremittingly denounced the war as a crime, sympathized with the +rebels, and execrated the cruelty of the Ministers while deriding their +abilities. Parliament rang with vituperation; personal insults flew +back and forth. From time to time Chatham took part in the attack, +joining Burke and Fox in an opposition never surpassed for oratorical +power. But the Ministerial party, secure in its strength, pushed on +its way. The King now regarded the war as the issue {97} upon which he +had staked his personal honour, and would tolerate no faltering. Yet +in the winter of 1778 the rumours of a French alliance thickened; and, +when the probability seemed to be a certainty, North made a desperate +effort to end the war through a policy of granting everything except +independence. In a speech of incredible assurance, he observed that he +had never favoured trying to tax America, and brought in a Bill by +which every parliamentary measure complained of by the Americans was +repealed, and the right of internal taxation was expressly renounced. +Amid the dejection of the Tories and the sneers of the Whigs, this +measure became law, March 2, 1778; and commissioners, empowered to +grant general amnesty, were sent with it to the United States. + +At no other time in English history would it have been possible for a +Ministry thus utterly to reverse its policy and remain in office; but +North's tenure depended on influences outside the House of Commons, and +he continued in his place. So severe was the crisis that an effort was +made to arrange a coalition Ministry, with the aged Chatham at its +head; George III, however, positively refused to permit North to +surrender the first place. He would consent to Whigs entering the +Cabinet only in subordinate positions. This {98} obstinacy and the +sudden death of Chatham blocked all coalition proposals, and left the +war to continue as a party measure, not national in its character--the +"King's war." + +In America, the task of the commissioners proved hopeless. The men now +in control of the Continental Congress and the State governments were +pledged to independence from the bottom of their souls; and in the +course of months of appeals, and attempts at negotiations, the +commissioners failed to secure even a hearing. Congress ratified the +French treaties with enthusiasm. That their proposal if made before +the Declaration would have been successful can scarcely be doubted. It +might even have produced an effect after 1776 had it been made by a +Whig Ministry, headed by Chatham. But coming in 1778, after three +years of war, when every vestige of the former sentiment of loyalty was +dead, and offered by the same North Ministry which had brought on the +revolution, it was foredoomed to defeat. + +The war now entered upon a second phase, in which England found itself +harder pressed than at any time in its history. It had not an ally in +the world, and could count on no Rhine campaigns to exhaust French +resources. For the first time England engaged France in a purely naval +war; and for the only time France was sufficiently strong in +sail-of-the-line {99} to meet England on equal terms. The French +fleet, rebuilt since 1763, was in excellent condition; the British +navy, on the contrary, under the slack administration of Lord Sandwich, +was worse off in equipment, repairs, number of sailors, and _esprit de +corps_ than at any time in the century. The French were able to send +fleets unhindered wherever they wished; and when Spain entered as an +ally, in 1779, their combined navies swept the Channel, driving the +humiliated British fleet into port. England was called upon to make +defensive war at home, at Gibraltar, in the West Indies, and finally in +India, at a time when the full strength of the country was already +occupied with the rebellion. + +This led to an alteration of military methods in America. The policy +of moving heavy armies was abandoned; and the British, forced to +withdraw troops to garrison the West Indies and Florida, began the +practice of wearing down the revolted colonies by raids and destruction +of property. George III especially approved this punitive policy. As +a first step, the army in Philadelphia marched back to New York, +attacked on its retreat by Washington at Monmouth on June 27, 1778. +The American advance was badly handled by General Lee, and fell back +before the British; but Washington in person rallied his men, resumed +the attack, and held his position. {100} Clinton, who succeeded Howe, +continued his march, and the British army now settled down in New York, +not to depart from its safe protection except on raids. + +Washington accordingly posted his forces, as in 1777, outside the city, +and awaited events. He could assume the offensive only in case a +French fleet should assist him, and this happened but twice, in 1778, +and not again for three years. The first time, Admiral D'Estaing with +a strong fleet menaced New York and then Newport, the latter in +conjunction with an American land force. But before each port he was +foiled by the superior skill of Admiral Howe; and he finally withdrew +without risking a battle, to the intense disgust of the Americans. For +the rest, the war in the northern States dwindled to raids by the +British along the Connecticut coast and into New Jersey, and outpost +affairs on the Hudson, in some of which Washington's Continental troops +showed real brilliancy in attack. But with the British in command of +the sea little could be done to meet the raids, and southern +Connecticut was ravaged with fire and sword. + +At the same time, the States suffered the horrors of Indian war, since +the Tories and British from Canada utilized the Iroquois and the Ohio +Valley Indians as allies. The New York frontier was in continual +distress; {101} and the Pennsylvania and Maryland and Virginia +settlements felt the scalping knife and torch. Hamilton, the British +commander at the post of Detroit, paid a fixed price for scalps, and +was known as "the hair buyer." Against the Iroquois, Sullivan led an +expedition in 1779 which could not bring the savages to a decisive +battle, although he ravaged their lands and crippled their resources. +Against the north-western Indians, a daring Virginian, George Rogers +Clark, led a counter-raid which captured several posts in the territory +north of the Ohio River, and finally took Hamilton himself prisoner at +Vincennes. In every such war the sufferings of the settlers +outnumbered a hundred-fold all that they could inflict in return, and +this consciousness burned into their souls a lasting hatred of England, +the ally of the murdering, torturing devils from the forests. + +While the British fleets fought indecisive actions in European waters, +or near the West Indies, the British raiding policy was transferred to +a new region, namely, the southern States, which thus far had known +little of the severities of war. In December, 1778, an expedition +under Prevost easily occupied Savannah, driving the Georgia militia +away. The next year an effort was made by an American force, in +combination with the French fleet under D'Estaing, who returned from +{102} the West Indies, to recapture the place. The siege was formed, +and there appeared some prospects of a successful outcome, but the +French admiral, too restless to wait until the completion of siege +operations, insisted on trying to take the city by storm on October 9. +The result was a complete repulse, after which D'Estaing sailed away, +and the American besiegers were obliged to withdraw. The real +interests of the French were, in fact, in the West Indies, where they +were gradually capturing English islands; their contributions so far to +the American cause consisted in gifts of munitions and loans of money, +together with numerous adventurous officers who aspired to lead the +American armies. The most amiable and attractive of these was the +young Marquis de Lafayette, owing largely to whose influence a force of +French soldiers under de Rochambeau was sent in 1780 to America. But +for months this force was able to do no more than remain in camp at +Newport, Rhode Island, blockaded by the English fleet. + +In 1780, the British raiding policy was resumed in the southern States +and achieved a startling success. In January, Clinton sailed from New +York with a force of 8,000 men, and after driving the American levies +into the city of Charleston, South Carolina, besieged and took it on +May 12, with all its {103} defenders. He then returned to New York, +leaving Lord Cornwallis with a few troops to complete the conquest of +the State. Congress now sent General Gates southward to repeat the +triumph of Saratoga. At Camden, on August 16, 1780, the issue was +decided. The American commander, with only 3,000 men, encountered +Cornwallis, who had about 2,200, and, as usual, the militia, when +attacked by British in the open field, fled for their lives at the +first charge of the redcoats, leaving the few continentals to be +outnumbered and crushed. + +For a period of several weeks all organized American resistance +disappeared. Only bands of guerillas, or "partisans," as they were +called, kept the field. Clinton had issued a proclamation calling all +loyalists to join the ranks; and Cornwallis made a systematic effort to +compel the enrolment of Tory militia. The plan bore fruit in an +apparent large increase of British numbers, but also in the outbreak of +a murderous civil war. Raiding parties on both sides took to +ambuscades, nocturnal house-burning, hanging of prisoners, and +downright massacres. Pre-eminent for his success was the British +Colonel Tarleton, who with a body of light troops swept tirelessly +around, breaking up rebel bands, riding down militia, and rendering his +command a terror to the {104} State. Marion, Sumter, and other +Americans struggled vainly to equal his exploits. + +Occasional American successes could not turn back the tide. On October +18, 1780, a band of Tories under General Ferguson ventured too far to +the westward, and at King's Mountain were surrounded and shot or taken +prisoners by a general uprising of the frontiersmen. General Greene, +who replaced Gates in December, managed to rally a few men, but dared +not meet Cornwallis in the field. His lieutenant, Morgan, when pursued +by Tarleton, turned on him at the Cowpens, and on January 17 managed to +inflict a severe defeat. The forces were diminutive--less than a +thousand on each side--but the battle was skilfully fought. After it, +however, both Morgan and Greene were forced to fly northward, and did +not escape Cornwallis's pursuit until they were driven out of North +Carolina. The State seemed lost, and on February 23, Cornwallis issued +a proclamation calling upon all loyalists to join the royal forces. +Meanwhile, encouraged by the striking successes in the Carolinas, +Clinton sent a force under Arnold to Virginia, which marched unopposed +through the seaboard counties of that State in the winter of 1781. It +seemed as though the new British policy were on the verge of a great +triumph. + +{105} + +By this time it was becoming a grave question whether the American +revolution was not going to collapse from sheer weakness. The +confederation, as a general government, seemed to be on the verge of +breaking down. The State governments, although badly hampered wherever +British raids took place, were operating regularly and steadily, but +the only common government continued to be the voluntary Continental +Congress, whose powers were entirely undefined, and rested, in fact, on +sufferance. In 1776 a committee, headed by John Dickinson, drafted +Articles of Confederation which, if adopted promptly, would have +provided a regular form of government; but, although these were +submitted in 1777 for ratification, inter-state jealousy sufficed to +block their acceptance. It was discovered that all those States which, +by their original charters, were given no definite western boundaries, +were disposed to claim an extension of their territory to the +Mississippi River. Virginia, through her general, Clark, actually +occupied part of the region claimed by her, and assumed to grant lands +there. The representatives of Maryland in Congress declared such +inequality a danger to the union, and refused to sign the Articles +unless the land claims west of the mountains were surrendered to the +general government. {106} This determination was formally approved by +the Maryland legislature in February, 1779, and matters remained at a +standstill. At last, in 1780, Congress offered to hold any lands which +might be granted to it, with the pledge to form them into States, and, +following this, New York, and Virginia intimated a willingness to make +the required cessions. Then Maryland yielded and ratified the +Articles, so that they came into operation on March 2, 1781. + +The self-styled "United States" had now travelled so far on the road to +bankruptcy that the adoption of the "Articles of Perpetual Union" +seemed scarcely more than an empty form. In the first place, the +federal finances were prostrate. The device of issuing paper money had +proved fatal, for, after a brief period, in 1775, the excessive issues +depreciated in spite of every effort to hinder their decline by +proclamations, price conventions, and political pressure. The only way +of sustaining such notes, namely, the furnishing by the States of a +full and sufficient revenue, was never attempted; for the States +themselves preferred to issue notes, rather than to tax, and when +called upon by the Continental Congress for requisitions they turned +over such amounts of paper as they saw fit. By 1780, the "continental +currency" was {107} practically worthless. Congress could rely only +upon such small sums of money as it could raise by foreign loans +through Franklin and by the contributions of a few patriotic people, +notably Robert Morris. + +The maintenance of the army exhausted the resources of Congress, and +every winter saw the story of Valley Forge repeated. To secure +supplies, Congress was driven to authorize seizure and impressment of +food and payment in certificates of indebtedness. It was for this +reason, as well as from the unwillingness of the Americans to enlist +for the war, that the Continental forces dwindled to diminutive numbers +in 1781. Nothing but Washington's tireless tenacity and loyalty held +the army together, and kept the officers from resigning in disgust. +Yet it seemed impossible that Washington himself could carry the burden +much longer. The general government appeared to be on the point of +disintegrating, leaving to the separate States the task of defending +themselves. Everywhere lassitude, preoccupation with local matters, a +disposition to leave the war to the French, a willingness to let other +States bear the burdens, replaced the fervour of 1776. In other words, +the old colonial habits were reasserting themselves, and the separate +States, reverting to their former accustomed negative politics, were +{108} behaving toward the Continental Congress precisely as they had +done toward England itself during the French wars. With hundreds of +thousands of men of fighting age in America it was impossible, in 1781, +to collect more than a handful for service away from their homes. The +essentially unmilitary nature of the Americans was not to be changed. + +Fortunately for the rebels, the policy of Great Britain was such as to +give them a lease of hope. In spite of the great British naval power +during the first two years of the war, no blockade had been attempted; +and after 1778 the British fleets were thoroughly occupied in following +and foiling the French. The result was that commerce of a sort +continued throughout the war, armed privateers and merchantmen +venturing from the New England and other ports, and trading with +France, Spain and the West Indies. Hundreds were taken by British +cruisers, but hundreds more continued their dangerous trade, and so +America continued to receive imports. The Dutch, especially, supplied +the revolted colonies with some of the commodities which their +exclusion from British ports rendered scarce. So, except for paper +money, there was no economic distress. + +In 1781, when if ever the British might hope to reduce the colonies, +the Empire was itself in sore straits for men to fill its ships and +{109} garrison its forts. This made it difficult for England to send +any reinforcements to America, and left Clinton and Cornwallis with +about 27,000 men to complete their raiding campaign. The task proved +excessive. In March, 1781, Greene, having assembled a small force, +gave battle to Cornwallis at Guilford Court House. The little army of +British veterans, only 2,219 in all, drove Greene from the field after +a stiff fight, but were so reduced in numbers that Cornwallis felt +obliged to retreat to Wilmington on the coast, where he was entirely +out of the field of campaign. On April 25 he marched northward into +Virginia to join the force which had been there for several months, +took command, and continued the policy of marching and destroying. +Before his arrival, Washington had tried to use the French force at +Newport against the Virginia raiders; but the French squadron, although +it ventured from port in March, 1781, and had a successful encounter +with a British fleet, declined to push on into the Chesapeake, and the +plan was abandoned. Cornwallis was able to march unhindered by any +French danger during the summer of 1781. + +But while the British were terrifying Virginia and chasing militia, the +forces left in the Carolinas were being worn down by {110} Greene and +his "partisan" allies. On April 25, at Hobkirk's Hill, Rawdon, the +British commander defeated Greene, and then, with reduced ranks, +retreated. During the summer, further sieges and raids recaptured +British posts, and on September 8 another battle took place at Eutaw +Springs. This resulted, as usual, in a British success on the +battlefield and a retreat afterwards. By October, the slender British +forces in the southernmost States were cooped up in Charleston and +Savannah, and a war of extermination was stamping out all organized +Tory resistance. The raiding policy had failed through weakness of +numbers. The superior fighting ability and tactical skill of +Cornwallis, Rawdon, Stuart, and Tarleton were as obvious as the courage +and steadiness of their troops; but their means were pitifully +inadequate to the task assigned them. + +Further north, a still greater failure took place. Washington was not +deterred by the futile outcome of his previous attempts to use French +co-operation from making a patient and urgent effort to induce De +Grasse, the French admiral in the West Indies, to come north and join +with him and Rochambeau in an attack on Cornwallis in Virginia. He was +at last successful; and on August 28 the wished-for fleet, {111} a +powerful collection of twenty-eight sail-of-the-line, with frigates, +reached Chesapeake Bay. Already the French troops from Newport, and +part of the American army from outside New York, had begun their +southward march, carefully concealing their purposes from Clinton, and +were moving through Pennsylvania. As a third part of the combination, +the French squadron from Newport put to sea, bringing eight more +sail-of-the-line, which, added to De Grasse's, would overmatch any +British fleet on the western side of the Atlantic. + +The one disturbing possibility was that the British West India fleet, +which very properly had sailed in pursuit, might defeat the two French +fleets singly. This chance was put to the test on September 5. On +that day Admiral Graves, with nineteen men-of-war, attacked De Grasse, +who brought twenty-four into line outside Chesapeake Bay; and the +decisive action of the Revolution took place. Seldom has a greater +stake been played for by a British fleet, and seldom has a naval battle +been less successfully managed. Graves may have intended to +concentrate upon part of the French line, but his subordinates +certainly failed to understand any such purpose; and the outcome was +that the head of the British column, approaching the French line at +{112} an angle, was severely handled, while the rear took no part in +the battle. The fleets separated without decisive result, and the +British, after cruising a few days irresolutely, gave up and returned +to New York. The other French squadron had meanwhile arrived, and the +allied troops had come down the Chesapeake. Cornwallis, shut up in +Yorktown by overwhelming forces, defended himself until October 17, and +then surrendered with 8,000 men to the man who had beaten him years +before at Trenton and Princeton. Clinton, aware at last of his danger, +sailed with every vessel he could scrape together, and approached the +bay on October 24 with twenty-five sail-of-the-line and 7,000 men; but +it was too late. He could only retreat to New York, where he remained +in the sole British foothold north of Charleston and Savannah. + +Washington would have been glad to retain De Grasse and undertake +further combined manoeuvres; but the French admiral was anxious to +return to the West Indies, and so the military operations of the year +ended. More was in reality unnecessary, for the collapse of the +British military policy was manifest, and the surrender of Cornwallis +was a sufficiently striking event to bring the war to a close. +Washington had not won the last fight with his own {113} Continentals. +The co-operation not only of the French fleet but of the French troops +under Rochambeau had played the decisive part. Yet it was his +planning, his tenacity, his personal authority with French and +Americans that determined the combined operation and made it +successful. In the midst of a half-starved, ill-equipped army, a +disintegrating, bankrupt government, and a people whose fighting spirit +was rapidly dwindling, it was he with his officers who had saved the +Revolution at the last gasp. + +It was no less the British mismanagement which made this possible, for +had not Howe, by delays, thrown away his chances; had not Howe and +Burgoyne and Clinton and Cornwallis, by their failures to co-operate, +made it possible for their armies to be taken separately; had not the +navy omitted to apply a blockade; had not the Ministry, in prescribing +a raiding policy, failed to strain every nerve to furnish an adequate +supply of men, the outcome would have been different. As it was, the +British defeat could no longer be concealed by the end of 1781. The +attempt to conquer America had failed. + + + + +{114} + +CHAPTER VI + +BRITISH PARTIES AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 1778-1783 + +When the news of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown reached +England, it was recognized by Whigs and Tories alike that the time had +come to admit the failure of the war. The loss of 7,000 troops was not +in itself a severe blow, at a time when England had over 200,000 men +under arms in various parts of the world; but it actually marked the +breakdown of the American campaign, and, what was still more +significant, the political bankruptcy of the North Ministry. Ever +since 1778, the tide had been rising against the royal policy. At +first, when the French war began, the nation rallied against the +ancient foe and there was some enthusiasm displayed in recruiting and +furnishing supplies; but, as general after general returned from +America--first Burgoyne, then Howe and his brother, the admiral,--to +rise in Parliament and denounce the administrative incompetence which +had foiled their efforts; as month after month passed and no victory +either in America or Europe came to cheer the public; worst of all, +when, in 1779, and again in 1780, combined French and Spanish fleets +swept the Channel {115} in overpowering numbers, driving the English +fleet into Torbay harbour--the war spirit dwindled, and bitter +criticism took its place. + +The Whig Opposition, no longer hampered by having the defence of the +revolted colonists as their sole issue, denounced in unmeasured +language the incompetence, corruption, and despotism of the North +Ministry, singling out Sandwich, at the Admiralty, and Germaine, +Secretary for the Colonies, as objects for especial invective. Party +hatred festered in army and navy, Whig and Tory admirals distrusting +each other and engaging in bitter quarrels, Whig and Tory generals +criticizing one another's plans and motives. On his part, Lord North +felt, as early as 1779, that his task was hopeless, and sought +repeatedly to resign; but in spite of secessions from the Ministry, in +spite of defeats and humiliations such as the control by the allies of +the Channel, nothing could shake George's determination. He would +never consent to abandon the colonies or permit North to surrender to +the detested Whigs. + +In 1780, the Opposition, led by Fox and Burke, began to direct its fire +at the King himself; and finally, in March of that year, they had the +satisfaction of carrying in the Commons, by votes of men who once had +been on the administration side, a resolution to the effect that "the +power of the Crown {116} has increased, is increasing, and ought to be +diminished." This was carried, by 283 votes to 215, in a House where +four years before the total Opposition mustered only a hundred. +Measures to cut down sinecures, to limit the secret service fund, to +take away opportunities for royal corruption, were introduced by Burke +and, although defeated, drew large votes. + +The tenacious politician who wore the crown was not yet beaten. In the +summer of 1780, the disgraceful Gordon riots broke out in London; and +the King, by his courageous personal bearing and bold direction of +affairs, won momentary prestige. The news from America, moreover, was +brighter than for a long time, and the British defence of Gibraltar was +unshaken. Suddenly dissolving Parliament, the King employed every +resource of influence or pressure, and managed to secure once more a +majority in the House of Commons. During the year 1781, the North +Ministry breathed more freely, and was able to repel Whig attacks by +safe majorities. But the respite was short. + +In the winter session of 1782, the news of Yorktown shook the Ministry +to its centre, and on top of that came the reports of the surrender of +Minorca, St. Kitts, and Nevis. Held together only by the inflexible +determination of George III never to yield American {117} independence +or "stoop to opposition," the Ministers fought bitterly though +despairingly against a succession of Whig motions, censuring the +Admiralty, demanding the withdrawal of the troops, and finally +censuring the Ministry. Majorities dwindled as rats began to leave the +sinking ship. On March 8, North escaped censure by ten votes only. +The King made repeated efforts to induce members of the Opposition to +come into some sort of coalition, but the hatred was too fierce, the +divergence of principle too wide. Rockingham would accept only +absolute surrender. On March 15, a resolution of want of confidence +was lost by nine only. + +Five days later, in face of a renewed motion of the same kind, North +announced his resignation. The end had come. The system of George III +had broken down, ruined by the weaknesses of the Tory Cabinet in +administration, in war, and in diplomacy, the most disastrous Ministry +in the history of England. There was no possible doubt as to the +significance of the collapse, for Lord Rockingham took office with a +Whig Cabinet, containing Shelburne and Fox, steadfast friends of +America, as Secretaries of State, and with the avowed purpose of +conceding independence to the former colonies, while maintaining the +contest with Spain and France. + +{118} + +Interest now shifted from the battlefield to the regions of diplomacy, +where the situation was complicated and delicate, owing to the unusual +relations of the parties involved. The United States and France were +in alliance, each pledged not to make a separate peace. Spain was in +alliance with France for the purpose of recovering Gibraltar, Minorca, +and Florida, but was not in any alliance with the United States. The +French government, tied thus to two allies, recognized the possible +contingency of diverging interests between Spain and the United States, +and exerted all the influence it could to keep diplomatic control in +its own hands. This it accomplished through its representatives in +America, especially de la Luzerne, who wielded an immense prestige with +the members of the Continental Congress, not only through his position +as representative of the power whose military, naval, and financial aid +was absolutely indispensable, but also by means of personal intrigues +of a type hitherto more familiar in European courts than in simple +America. Under his direction, Congress authorized its European +representatives, Franklin, Jay, and Adams, accredited to France, Spain, +and the Netherlands respectively, to act as peace commissioners and to +be guided in all things by the advice and consent of the French +Minister, {119} Vergennes. Their instructions designated boundaries, +indemnity for ravages and for the taking of slaves, and a possible +cession of Canada, but all were made subject to French approval. When, +accordingly, in 1781, both Shelburne and Fox of the Rockingham Ministry +sought to open negotiations with the American representatives, while +pushing on vigorously the war against France and Spain, they +interjected an embarrassing element into the situation. Vergennes +could not prohibit American negotiation, but he relied upon the +instructions of the commissioners to enable him to prevent the making +of any separate peace, contrary to the treaty of 1778. + +The first steps were taken by Franklin and Shelburne, who opened +unofficial negotiations through Richard Oswald, a friend of America. +It seems to have been Shelburne's plan to avoid the preliminary +concession of independence, hoping to retain some form of connection +between America and England, or at least to use independence as a +make-weight in the negotiations. Hence Oswald, his agent, was not +commissioned to deal with the United States as such. Fox, Secretary +for Foreign Affairs, felt, on the other hand, that the negotiation +belonged to his field, and he sent Thomas Grenville to Paris, +authorized to deal with France {120} and, indirectly, with the United +States. Over this difference in the Cabinet, and over other matters, +an acute personal rivalry developed between Fox and Shelburne, which +culminated when Rockingham died in July, 1782. George III, who much +preferred Shelburne to Fox, asked him to form a Ministry, and upon his +acceptance Fox, absolutely refusing to serve under him, withdrew from +the Cabinet, carrying his friends with him. Thus the triumphant Whig +party was split within a few months after its victory. The whole +responsibility now rested on Shelburne. + +Meanwhile, a new situation had developed in Paris, for Jay and Adams, +the other two commissioners, had brought about a change in the American +policy. Franklin, deeply indebted to the French court and on the best +of terms with Vergennes, was willing to credit him with good intentions +and was ready to accept his advice to negotiate with England under the +vague terms of Oswald's commission; but Jay, who had had a mortifying +experience in Spain, suspected treachery and insisted that England +must, in opening negotiations, fully recognize American independence. +He was sure that Spain would gladly see the United States shut in to +the Atlantic coast away from Spanish territory, and he felt certain +{121} that Vergennes was under Spanish influence. Adams, who knew +nothing of Spain, but distrusted the French on general principles, +sided with Jay; and Franklin, submitting to his colleagues, agreed to a +curious diplomatic manoeuvre. Jay sent to Shelburne a secret message, +urging him to deal separately with the United States under a proper +commission and not seek to play into the hands of Spain and France. He +knew that a French emissary had visited Shelburne, and he dreaded +French double-dealing, especially on the question of boundaries and +fishery rights. + +The British Prime Minister was in the odd position of being appealed to +by one of the three hostile powers to save it from the other two; but +underlying the situation was the fact that Shelburne, as a Whig since +the beginning of the American quarrel, was committed to a friendly +policy toward America. He knew, moreover, that when Parliament should +meet he must expect trouble from Fox and the dissatisfied Whigs, as +well as the Tories, and he was anxious to secure a treaty as soon as +possible. So yielding, on September 27, he gave Oswald the required +commission, but, suspecting that he was rather too complaisant, sent +Henry Strachey to assist him. During the summer, Franklin and Oswald, +in informal {122} discussions, had already eliminated various matters, +so that when negotiations formally opened it took not over five weeks +to agree upon a draft treaty. + +During all this time the Americans violated their instructions by +failing to consult Vergennes. Here Franklin was again overruled by Jay +and Adams, whose antipathy to French and Spanish influence was +insuperable. It does not appear that Vergennes had any definite +intention to work against American boundaries or fishery rights; but +there can be no doubt that Rayneval and Marbois, two of his agents, +committed themselves openly in a sense unfavourable to American claims, +and it is likely that, had the negotiations taken place under his +control, the outcome would have been delayed in every way in order to +allow France to keep its contract with Spain, whose attacks on +Gibraltar were pushed all through the summer. As it was, the +negotiators managed to agree on a treaty of peace which reflected the +Whig principles of Shelburne and the skill and pertinacity of the three +Americans. Little trouble was encountered over boundaries, Shelburne +ceding everything east of the Mississippi and north of Florida, and +designating as a boundary between the United States and Canada in part +the same line as that in the Proclamation of 1763, from the {123} St. +Croix River to the eastward of Maine, to the Great Lakes and thence +westward by a system of waterways to the headwaters of the Mississippi. +At the especial urgence of Adams, whose Massachusetts constituents drew +much of their wealth from the Newfoundland fisheries, the right of +continuing this pursuit was comprised in the treaty, together with the +right to land and dry fish on unoccupied territories in Labrador and +Nova Scotia. As a possible make-weight, the navigation of the +Mississippi was guaranteed to citizens of both the United States and +Great Britain. + +The chief difficulty arose over the question of the treatment of +American loyalists and the payment of British debts which had been +confiscated in every colony. Shelburne insisted that there must be +restoration of civil rights, compensation for damages, and a pledge +against any future confiscations or disfranchisements for loyalists, +and also demanded a provision for the payment of all debts due to +British creditors. Here the negotiation hung in a long deadlock, for +Franklin, Adams, and Jay were unanimously determined to concede no +compensation for individuals whom they hated as traitors; while the +British negotiators felt bound in honour not to abandon the men who had +lost all and suffered every indignity and {124} humiliation as a +penalty for their loyalty. At length, progress was made when Adams +suggested that the question of British debts be separated from that of +Tory compensation; so a clause was agreed upon guaranteeing the full +payment of bona fide debts heretofore contracted. + +Finally, after Franklin had raised a counter-claim for damages due to +what he called the "inhuman burnings" of the British raids since 1778, +it was agreed to insert a clause against any future confiscations or +prosecutions of loyalists and to add that Congress should "earnestly +recommend" to the States the restoration of loyalists' estates and the +repealing of all laws against them. At the time the commissioners drew +up this article, they must have known that the Congress of the United +States had no power to enforce the treaty, and that any such +recommendations, however "earnest," would carry no weight with the +thirteen communities controlled by embittered rebels, who remembered +every Tory, alive or dead, with execration. Nevertheless, it offered a +way of escape, and the British representative signed, on November 30, +1782. The great contest was at an end. + +When Franklin revealed to Vergennes that, unknown to the French court, +the American commissioners had agreed on a {125} draft treaty, the +French minister was somewhat indignant at the trick, and communicated +his displeasure to his agent in America. This induced the easily +worried Congress to instruct Livingston, the Secretary for Foreign +Affairs, to write a letter censuring the commissioners; but, although +Jay and Adams were hotly indignant at such servility, the matter ended +then and there. Vergennes's displeasure was momentary, and the French +policy continued as before. The European war was, in fact, wearing to +its end. Already, in April, 1782, Admiral Rodney had inflicted a sharp +defeat on De Grasse, capturing five of his vessels, including the +flagship with the admiral himself. This, together with the extreme +inefficiency of the Spanish fleet, put an end to the hope of further +French gains in the West Indies. Before Gibraltar, also, the allied +fleet of forty-eight vessels did not dare to risk a general engagement +with a British relieving fleet of thirty, and when in September, 1782, +a final bombardment was attempted, the batteries from the fort proved +too strong for their assailants. The allies felt that they had +accomplished all they could hope to, and agreed to terms of peace on +January 20, 1783. France gained little beyond sundry West India +Islands, but Spain profited to the extent of {126} regaining Minorca +and also Florida. It was at best a defeat for England, and the Whig +Ministry, which carried it through, was unable to prevent such an +outcome. + +The American peace was made the pretext for Shelburne's fall, since a +coalition of dissatisfied Whigs and Tories united in March, 1783, to +censure it, thereby turning out the Ministry. But, although Fox +regained control of diplomatic matters and made some slight moves +toward reopening negotiations, he had no serious intention of +disturbing Shelburne's work, and the provisional treaty was made +definitive on September 3, 1783--the day on which the French treaty was +signed. Thus the Americans technically kept to the terms of their +alliance with France in agreeing not to make a separate peace, but as a +matter of fact hostilities had entirely ceased in America since +January, 1783, and practically since the fall of the North Ministry. +The British had remained quietly in New York and Charleston, +withdrawing from all other points, and Washington with his small army +stood at Newburg-on-the-Hudson. In October, 1783, the last British +withdrew, taking with them into exile thousands of Tories who did not +dare to remain to test the value of the clauses in the treaty of peace +intended to protect them. So the last traces of the long contest +disappeared, {127} and the United States entered upon its career. + +The treaty, as must have been foreseen by the commissioners themselves, +remained a dead letter so far as the Tories were concerned. Congress +performed its part and gave the promised recommendation, but the States +paid no heed. The loyalists were not restored to civil or property +rights. The plain provision of the treaty prohibiting further +legislation against loyalists was defied in several States, and +additional disqualifications were placed upon those who dared to remain +in the country. The provision regarding the payment of debts remained +unfulfilled, since there was no mechanism provided in the treaty +through which the article could be enforced. Only from the British +government could the Tories receive any recompense for their +sufferings, and there they were in part relieved. Very many received +grants of land in Canada, where they formed a considerable part of the +population in several districts. More went to New Brunswick and Nova +Scotia to receive similar grants. Others spent their days in England +as unhappy pensioners, forgotten victims of a war which all Englishmen +sought to bury in oblivion. Those who remained in the United States +ultimately regained standing and fared better than the exiles, but not +until new {128} domestic issues had arisen to obliterate the memory of +revolutionary antagonisms. + +With the Treaty of 1782, the mother country and the former colonies +definitely started on separate paths, recognizing the fundamental +differences which for fifty years had made harmonious co-operation +impossible. England remained as before, aristocratic in social +structure, oligarchic in government, military and naval in temper--a +land of strongly fixed standards of religious and political life, a +country where society looked to a narrow circle for leadership. Its +commercial and economic ideals, unaltered by defeat, persisted to guide +national policy in peace and war for two more generations. The sole +result of the war for England was to render impossible in future any +such perversion of Cabinet government as that which George III, by +intimidation, fraud, and political management, had succeeded for a +decade in establishing. Never again would the country tolerate royal +dictation of policies and leaders. England became what it had been +before 1770, a country where parliamentary groups and leaders bore the +responsibility and gained the glory or discredit, while the outside +public approved or protested without seeking in any other manner to +control the destinies of the State. While the English thus sullenly +fell back into their {129} accustomed habits, the former Colonies, now +relieved from the old-time subordination, were turned adrift to solve +problems of a wholly different sort. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE FORMATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 1781-1798 + +The British colonists, who assumed independent legal existence with the +adoption of Articles of Confederation in 1781, had managed to carry +through a revolution and emerge into the light of peace. They were now +required to learn, in the hard school of experience, those necessary +facts of government which they had hitherto ignored, and which, even in +the agonies of civil war, they had refused to recognize. + +Probably with three-quarters of the American people, the prevailing +political sentiment was that of aversion to any governmental control, +coupled with a deep-rooted jealousy and distrust of all officials, even +those chosen by and dependent upon themselves. Their political ideals +contemplated {130} the government of each colony chiefly by the elected +representatives of the voters, who should meet annually to legislate +and tax, and then, having defined the duties of the few permanent +officers in such a way as to leave them little or no discretion, should +dissolve, leaving the community to run itself until the next annual +session. Authority of any kind was to them an object of traditional +dread, even when exercised by their own agents. The early State +constitutions concentrated all power in the legislature, leaving the +executive and judicial officials little to do but execute the laws. +The only discretionary powers enjoyed by governors were in connection +with military affairs. + +In establishing the Articles of Confederation the statesmen of the +Continental Congress had no intention of creating in any sense a +governing body. All that the Congress could do was to decide upon war +and peace, make treaties, decide upon a common military establishment, +and determine the sums to be contributed to the common treasury. These +matters, moreover, called for an affirmative vote of nine States in +each case. There was no federal executive or judiciary, nor any +provision for enforcing the votes of the Congress. To carry out any +single thing committed by the Articles to the Congress, and duly voted, +required the {131} positive co-operation of the State legislatures, who +were under no other compulsion than their sense of what the situation +called for and of what they could afford to do. + +Things were, in short, just where the colonists would have been glad to +have them before the Revolution--with the objectionable provincial +executives removed, all coercive authority in the central government +abolished, and the legislatures left to their own absolute discretion. +In other words, the average American farmer or trader of the day felt +that the Revolution had been fought to get rid of all government but +one directly under the control of the individual voters of the States. +Typical of such were men like Samuel Adams of Massachusetts and Patrick +Henry of Virginia. They had learned their politics in the period +before the Revolution, and clung to the old colonial spirit, which +regarded normal politics as essentially defensive and anti-governmental. + +On the other hand, there were a good many individuals in the country +who recognized that the triumph of the colonial ideal was responsible +for undeniable disasters. Such men were found, especially, among the +army officers and among those who had tried to aid the cause in +diplomatic or civil office during the Revolution. Experience made them +realize that the practical abolition of all {132} executive authority +and the absence of any real central government had been responsible for +chronic inefficiency. The financial collapse, the lack of any power on +the part of Congress to enforce its laws or resolutions, the visible +danger that State legislatures might consult their own convenience in +supporting the common enterprises or obligations--all these +shortcomings led men like Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Webster, a +pamphleteer of New England, to urge even before 1781 that a genuine +government should be set up to replace the mere league. Their +supporters were, however, few, and confined mainly to those merchants +or capitalists who realized the necessity of general laws and a general +authority. It is scarcely conceivable that the inherited prejudices of +most Americans in favour of local independence could have been +overborne had not the Revolution been followed by a series of public +distresses, which drove to the side of the strong-government +advocates--temporarily, as it proved--a great number of American voters. + +When hostilities ended, the people of the United States entered upon a +period of economic confusion. In the first place, trade was +disorganized, since the old West India markets were lost and the +privileges formerly enjoyed under the Navigation Acts were terminated +by the separation of the {133} countries. American shippers could not +at once discover in French or other ports an equivalent for the former +triangular trade. In the second place, British manufacturers and +exporters rushed to recover their American market, and promptly put out +of competition the American industries which had begun to develop +during the war. Specie, plentiful for a few months, now flowed rapidly +out of the country, since American merchants were no longer able to buy +British goods by drawing on West India credits. At the same time, with +the arrival of peace, the State courts resumed their functions, and +general liquidation began; while the State legislatures, in the effort +to adjust war finances, imposed what were felt to be high taxes. The +result was a general complaint of hard times, poverty, and insufficient +money. Some States made efforts to retaliate against Great Britain by +tariffs and navigation laws, but this only damaged their own ports by +driving British Trade to their neighbours'. Congress could afford no +help, since it had no power of commercial regulation. + +The effect upon the working of the Confederation showed that a majority +of Americans had learned nothing from all their experiences, for the +State legislatures declined to furnish to the central government any +{134} more money than they felt to be convenient, regardless of the +fact that without their regular support the United States was certain +to become bankrupt. Robert Morris was appointed Financier in 1871, and +took energetic steps to introduce order into the mass of loan +certificates, foreign loans, certificates of indebtedness, and +mountains of paper currency; but one unescapable fact stood in his way, +that the States felt under no obligation to pay their quotas of +expenses. In spite of his urgent appeals, backed by resolutions of +Congress, the government revenues remained too scanty to pay even the +interest on the debt. Morris resigned in disgust in 1784; and his +successors, a committee of Congress, found themselves able to do +nothing more than confess bankruptcy. The people of the States felt +too poor to support their federal government, and, what was more, felt +no responsibility for its fate. + +Without revenue, it naturally followed that the Congress of the +Confederation accomplished practically nothing. As will be shown +later, it could secure no treaties of any importance, since its +impotence to enforce them was patent. It managed to disband the +remaining troops with great difficulty and only under the danger of +mutiny, a danger so great that it took all of {135} Washington's +personal influence to prevent an uprising at Newburg in March, 1783. +For the rest, its leaders, men often of high ability--Hamilton, +Madison, King of Massachusetts, Sherman of Connecticut--found +themselves helpless. Naturally they appealed to the States for +additional powers and submitted no less than three amendments: first, +in 1781, a proposal to permit Congress to levy and collect a five per +cent. duty on imports; then, in 1783, a plan by which certain specific +duties were to be collected by State officers and turned over to the +government; and finally, in 1784, a request that Congress be given +power to exclude vessels of nations which would not make commercial +treaties. No one of these succeeded, although the first plan failed of +unanimous acceptance by one State only. The legislatures recognized +the need, but dreaded to give any outside power whatever authority +within their respective boundaries. While those who advocated these +amendments kept reiterating the positive necessity for some means to +avert national disgrace and bankruptcy, their opponents, reverting to +the language of 1775, declared it incompatible with "liberty" that any +authority other than the State's should be exercised in a State's +territory. By 1787, it was clear that any hope of specific amendments +was vain. Unanimity from {136} thirteen legislatures was not to be +looked for. + +On the other hand, where the States chose to act they produced +important results. The cessions of western lands, which had been +exacted by Maryland as her price for ratifying the Articles, were +carried out by New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia until +the title to all territory west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio +was with the Confederation. Then, although nothing in the Articles +authorized such action, Congress, in 1787, adopted an Ordinance +establishing a plan for settling the new lands. After a period of +provincial government, substantially identical with that of the +colonies, the region was to be divided into States and admitted into +the union, under the terms of an annexed "compact" which prohibited +slavery and guaranteed civil rights. But where the States did not +co-operate, confusion reigned. Legislatures imposed such tariffs as +they saw fit, which led to actual inter-State commercial +discriminations between New York and its neighbours. Connecticut and +Pennsylvania wrangled over land claims. The inhabitants of the +territory west of New Hampshire set up a State government under the +name of Vermont, and successfully maintained themselves against the +State of New York, {137} which had a legal title to the soil, while the +frontier settlers in North Carolina were prevented only by inferior +numbers from carrying through a similar secession. + +Finally, in the years 1785-7, the number of those who found the +unrestrained self-government of the separate States another name for +anarchy was enormously increased by a sudden craze for paper money, +"tender" laws, and "stay" laws which swept the country. The poorer +classes, especially the farmers, denounced the courts as agents of the +rich, clamoured for more money to permit the easy payment of +obligations, and succeeded in compelling more than half of the States +to pass laws hindering the collection of debts and emitting bills of +credit, which promptly depreciated. Worse remained. In New Hampshire, +armed bands tried to intimidate the legislature; and in Massachusetts +the rejection of such laws brought on actual insurrection. Farmers +assembled under arms, courts were broken up, and a sharp little civil +war, known as Shays' Rebellion, was necessary before the State +government could re-establish order. + +In these circumstances, a sudden strong reaction against mob rule and +untrammelled democracy ran through the country, swinging all men of +property and law-abiding habits powerfully in favour of the demand +{138} for a new, genuinely authoritative, national government, able to +compel peace and good order. So the leaders of the reform party +struck; and at a meeting of Annapolis in October, 1786, summoned +originally to discuss the problem of navigating the Potomac River, they +issued a call for a convention of delegates from all the States to meet +at Philadelphia in May, 1787, for the purpose of recommending +provisions "intended to render the federal government adequate to the +exigencies of the Union." This movement, reversing the current of +American history, gained impetus in the winter of 1787. Congress +seconded the call; and, after Virginia had shown the way by nominating +its foremost men as delegates, the other States fell into line and sent +representatives--all but Rhode Island, which was the scene of an orgy +of paper-money tyranny, and would take no part in any such meeting. + +Of the fifty-five men present at the Philadelphia convention, not more +than half-a-dozen were of the old colonial type, which clung to +individual State independence as the palladium of liberty. All the +others felt that the time had come to lay the most thoroughgoing +limitations upon the States, with the express purpose of preventing any +future repetition of the existing inter-State wrangles, and especially +of the financial {139} abuses of the time; and they were ready to gain +this end by entrusting large powers to the central government. They +divided sharply, however, on one important point, namely, whether the +increased powers were to be exercised by a government similar to the +existing one, or by something wholly new and far more centralized; and +over this question the convention ran grave danger of breaking up. + +Discussion began in June, 1787, behind closed doors, with a draft plan +agreed upon by the Virginia members as the working project. This was a +bold scheme, calling for the creation of a single great State, relying +on the people for its authority, superior to the existing States, and +able, if necessary, to coerce them; in reality, a fusion of the United +States into a single commonwealth. In opposition to this, the +representatives of the smaller States--Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland +and Connecticut--aided by the conservative members from New York, +announced that they would never consent to any plan which did not +safeguard the individuality and equality of their States; and, although +the Virginia plan commanded a majority of those present, its supporters +were obliged to permit a compromise in order to prevent an angry +dissolution of the convention. In keeping with a suggestion of the +{140} Connecticut members, it was agreed that one House of the proposed +legislature should contain an equal representation of the States, while +the other should be based on population. + +The adoption of this compromise put an end to the danger of disruption, +for all but a few irreconcilables were now ready to co-operate; and in +the course of a laborious session a final draft was hammered out, with +patchings, changes, and additional compromises to safeguard the +interests of the plantation States in the institution of slavery. + +When the convention adjourned, it placed before the people of America a +document which was a novelty in the field of government. In part, it +aimed to establish a great State, on the model of the American States, +which in turn derived their features from the colonial governments. It +had a Congress of two Houses, an executive with independent powers, and +a judiciary authorized to enforce the laws of the United States. +Congress was given full and exclusive power over commerce, currency, +war and peace, and a long list of enumerated activities involving +inter-State questions, and was authorized to pass all laws necessary +and proper to the carrying out of any of the powers named in the +constitution. Further, the constitution, the federal laws, and +treaties were declared to be the supreme {141} law of the land, +anything in a State law or constitution notwithstanding. In addition, +the States were expressly forbidden to enter the fields reserved to the +federal government, and were prohibited from infringing the rights of +property. On the other hand, the new government could not exist +without the co-operation of the States in providing for the election of +electors,--to choose a president--of senators, and of congressmen. It +was a new creation, a federal State. + +There now followed a sharp and decisive contest to gain the necessary +ratification by nine commonwealths. At first, the advocates of strong +government, by a rapid campaign, secured the favourable votes of +half-a-dozen States in quick succession; but when it came the turn of +New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia, the conservative, localistic +instincts of the farmers and older people were roused to make a +strenuous resistance. The "Federalists," as the advocates of the new +government termed themselves, had to meet charges that the proposed +scheme would crush the liberties of the State, reduce them to ciphers, +and set up an imitation of the British monarchy. But, by the eager +urging of the foremost lawyers and most influential men of the day, the +tide was turned and ratification carried, although with the utmost +difficulty, and usually with {142} the recommendation of amendments to +perfect the constitution. In June, 1788, the contest ended; and, +although Rhode Island and North Carolina remained unreconciled, the +other eleven States proceeded to set up the new government. + +In the winter of 1789, in accordance with a vote of the Congress of the +Confederation, the States chose electors and senators, and the people +voted for representatives. But one possible candidate existed for the +presidency, namely, the hero of the Revolutionary War; and accordingly +Washington received the unanimous vote of the whole electoral college. +With him, John Adams was chosen vice-president, by a much smaller +majority. The Congress, which slowly assembled, was finally able to +count and declare the votes, the two officers were inaugurated, and the +new government was ready to assume its functions. + +There followed a period of rapid and fundamental legislation. In the +new Congress were a body of able men, by far the greater number of them +zealous to establish a strong authoritative government, and to complete +the victory of the Federalists. The defeated States' Rights men now +stood aside, watching their conquerors carry their plan to its +conclusion. Led for the most part by James Madison of the House, {143} +Congress passed Acts creating executive departments with federal +officials; establishing a full independent federal judiciary, resident +in every State, with a supreme court above all; imposing a tariff for +revenue and for protection to American industries, and appropriating +money to settle the debts of the late confederation. In addition, it +framed and submitted to the States a series of constitutional +amendments whose object was to meet Anti-federalist criticisms by +securing the individual against oppression from the federal government. +When Congress adjourned in September, 1789, after its first session, it +had completed a thoroughgoing political revolution. In place of a +loose league of entirely independent States, there now existed a +genuine national government, able to enforce its will upon individuals +and to perform all the functions of any State. + +That the American people, with their political inheritance, should have +consented even by a small majority to abandon their traditional lax +government, remains one of the most remarkable political decisions in +history. It depended upon the concurrence of circumstances which, for +the moment, forced all persons of property and law-abiding instincts to +join together in all the States to remedy an intolerable situation. +{144} The leaders, as might be expected, were a different race of +statesmen, on the whole, from those who had directed events prior to +1776. Washington and Franklin favoured the change; but Richard Henry +Lee and Patrick Henry were eager opponents, Samuel Adams was +unfriendly, and Thomas Jefferson, in Paris, was unenthusiastic. The +main work was done by Hamilton, Madison, John Marshall, Gouverneur +Morris, Fisher Ames--men who were children in the days of the Stamp +Act. The old agitators and revolutionists were superseded by a new +type of politicians, whose interests lay in government, not opposition. + +But the fundamental American instincts were not in reality changed; +they had only ebbed for the moment. No sooner did Congress meet in its +second session in January, 1790, and undertake the task of reorganizing +the chaotic finances of the country, than political unanimity vanished, +and new sectional and class antagonisms came rapidly to the front in +which could be traced the return of the old-time colonial habits. The +central figure was no longer Madison, but Hamilton, Secretary of the +Treasury, who aspired to be a second William Pitt, and submitted an +elaborate scheme for refunding the entire American debt. In addition, +he called for an excise tax, and {145} later recommended the chartering +of a National Bank to serve the same function in America that the Bank +of England performed in Great Britain. + +Daring, far-sighted, based on the methods of English financiers, +Hamilton's plans bristled with points certain to arouse antagonism. He +proposed to refund and pay the debt at its face value to actual +holders, regardless of the fact that the nearly worthless federal stock +and certificates of indebtedness had fallen into the hands of +speculators; he recommended that the United States should assume, fund, +and pay the war debt of the States, disregarding the fact that, while +some States were heavily burdened, others had discharged their +obligations. He urged an excise tax on liquors, although such an +internal tax was an innovation in America and was certain to stir +intense opposition; he suggested the chartering of a powerful bank, in +spite of the absence of any clause in the constitution authorizing such +action. Hamilton was, in fact, a great admirer of the English +constitution and political system, and he definitely intended to +strengthen the new government by making it the supreme financial power +and enlisting in its support all the moneyed interests of the country. +Property, as in England, must be the basis of government. + +{146} + +Against his schemes, there immediately developed a rising opposition +which made itself felt in Congress, in State legislatures, in the +newspapers, and finally in Washington's own Cabinet. All the farmer +and debtor elements in the country disliked and dreaded the financial +manipulations of the brilliant secretary; and the Virginian planters, +universally borrowers, who had been the strongest single power in +establishing the new constitution, now swung into opposition to the +administration. Madison led the fight in the House against Hamilton's +measures; and Jefferson, in the Cabinet, laid down, in a memorandum of +protest against the proposed bank, the doctrine of "strict +construction" of the constitution according to which the powers granted +to the federal government ought to be narrowly construed in order to +preserve the State governments, the source of liberty, from +encroachment. He denounced the bank, accordingly, as unwarranted by +the constitution, corrupt, and dangerous to the safety of the country. +In the congressional contest Hamilton was successful, for all his +recommendations were adopted, but at the cost of creating a lasting +antagonism in the southern States and in the western regions. + +In 1791, Jefferson and Madison co-operated to establish a newspaper at +Philadelphia whose sole occupation consisted in denouncing {147} the +corrupt and monarchical Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton retorted +by publishing letters charging Jefferson with responsibility for it; +and Washington, who steadily approved Hamilton's policies, found his +Cabinet splitting into two factions. By the year 1792, when the second +presidential election took place, the opposition, styling itself +"Republican," was sufficiently well organized to run George Clinton, +formerly the Anti-federalist leader of New York, for the +Vice-Presidency against the "monarchical" Adams. Washington was not +opposed, but no other one of the Hamiltonian supporters escaped attack. +There was, in short, the beginning of the definite formation of +political parties on lines akin to those which existed in the period +before 1787. Behind Jefferson and Madison were rallying all the +colonial-minded voters, to whom government was at best an evil and to +whom, under any circumstances, strong authority and elaborate finance +were utterly abhorrent. Around Hamilton gathered the men whose +interests lay in building up a genuine, powerful, national +government--the merchants, shipowners, moneyed men and creditors +generally in the northern States--and, of course, all Tories. + +Up to 1793, the Federalist administration successfully maintained its +ground; and, when {148} the Virginian group tried in the House to prove +laxity and mismanagement against Hamilton, he was triumphantly +vindicated. Had the United States been allowed to develop in +tranquillity and prosperity for a generation, it is not unlikely that +the Federalist party might have struck its roots so deeply as to be +impervious to attacks. But it needed time, for in contrast to the +Jeffersonian party, whose origin is manifestly in the old-time colonial +political habits of democracy, local independence, and love of lax +finance, the Federalist party was a new creation, with no traditions to +fall back upon. Reflecting in some respects British views, notably in +its distrust of the masses and its respect for property and wealth, it +far surpassed any English party of the period, except the small group +led by William Pitt, in its demand for progressive and vigorous +legislation. In 1793, when matters were in this situation, the state +of European and British politics suddenly brought the United States +into the current of world politics, and subjected the new +administration to difficulties, which were ultimately to cause its +downfall. + + + + +{149} + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE FIRST PERIOD OF COMMERCIAL ANTAGONISM, 1783-1795 + +While the United States had been undergoing the important changes of +the period, 1783-1793, England had passed through an almost equally +significant political transformation, in course of which the two +countries entered upon a long history of difficult and unfriendly +diplomatic relations. The treaty of peace ended the political union of +the two communities, but it left the nature of their commercial +relations to be settled; and this, for the United States, was a problem +second only in importance to that of federal government. If the +prosperity of the thirteen States was to be restored, the old-time +trade routes of the colonial days must be re-established. The West +India market for fish, grain, and lumber, the British or European +market for plantation products must be replaced on a profitable basis, +and the United States must be prepared to purchase these privileges by +whatever concessions lay in its power to grant. It rested chiefly with +England to decide whether to permit the former colonies to resume their +earlier commercial system or begin a new policy, for it was with +Britain and the British colonies {150} that seven-eighths of American +commerce naturally was carried on. + +Unfortunately for the people of the United States, and unfortunately +for the harmony of the two countries, the prevailing beliefs of English +merchants, shipowners, naval authorities, and, in general, the official +classes were such as to render a complete resumption of the former +trade relations almost impossible. According to the political and +economic doctrines underlying the Acts of Trade, the moment that the +two countries became separated their interests automatically became +antagonistic. American shipping, formerly fostered when under the +flag, now assumed the aspect of a formidable rival to the British +merchant marine and, as such, ought to be prevented from taking any +profit which by any device could be turned toward British ships. + +The treaty of peace had scarcely been signed when there appeared a +pamphlet by Lord Sheffield, early in 1783, which won instant success, +passing through several editions. This announced that henceforward it +was the duty of the British government to discourage and crush American +navigation to the extent of its power in order to check a dangerous +rival, taking especial care to reserve the West Indies for exclusive +British control. At the possibility of losing the {151} profitable +American market through retaliatory measures, Sheffield laughed in +scorn. "We might as reasonably dread the effect of combinations among +the German as among the American States," he sneered, "and deprecate +the resolves of the Diet as those of Congress." There were elements, +of course, to whom these arguments of Sheffield were unwelcome, +particularly the West India planters themselves, and to a degree the +British manufacturers, who would gladly have resumed the trade of the +years before 1776; but, so far as the great majority of Englishmen was +concerned, it seems impossible to doubt that Lord Sheffield was a true +spokesman of their convictions. + +In addition to the economic theories of the time, the temper of the +British people was sullen, hostile, and contemptuous toward the former +colonies. The bulk of the nation had come to condemn the policy of the +North Ministry which had led to the loss of the plantations, but they +did not love the Americans any the more for that. The sharp social +distinctions, which prior to 1776 had rendered the nobility, the +gentry, the clergy, and the professions contemptuous toward the +colonists, still reigned unchecked; and the Tories and most of the +ruling classes, regarding the Americans as a set of ungrateful and +spiteful people, whom it was well {152} to have lost as subjects, +ceased to take any interest in their existence. The United States was +dropped, as an unpleasant subject is banished from conversation; and +the relations of the two countries became a matter of national concern +only when the interests of shipowners, merchants, or naval authorities +were sufficiently strong to compel attention from the governing classes. + +The Whig leaders should, of course, be excepted from this general +statement, for they and their followers--both their parliamentary +coterie and their middle-class adherents outside--retained a friendly +attitude, and tried to treat the United States with a consideration +which usually had no place in Tory manners. But Whigs as well as +Tories held the prevailing conceptions of naval and economic +necessities, and only scattered individuals, like William Pitt, were +affected by the new doctrines of Adam Smith. Their commercial policy +tended to differ only in degree from that of the more rigid Tories. + +To make it certain that the United States should fail to secure +favourable commercial rights, the ascendancy of the Whigs came to a +sudden end within a year from its beginning. The Shelburne Ministry, +which made the peace, had to meet the opposition not only of the Tories +but of the group led by Fox. In the session of 1783, the Whig party +{153} was thus openly split, and presently all England was scandalized +to see Fox enter into a coalition with no less a person than Lord North +for the purpose of obtaining office. Shelburne resigned on February +24, after the passage of a resolution of censure on the Peace; and +George III, after trying every expedient to avoid what he considered a +personal disgrace, was forced, on April 2, to admit Fox and North as +Ministers under the nominal headship of the Duke of Portland. So +Tories were restored to a share in the government, since nearly half of +the coalition majority depended upon Tory votes. In December, 1783, +the King, by a direct exercise of his influence, caused the Lords to +throw out a Ministerial bill for the government of India and, +dismissing the coalition Ministers, he appealed to William Pitt. That +youthful politician, who had first entered office as Chancellor of the +Exchequer under Shelburne, succeeded, after a sharp parliamentary +contest, in breaking down the opposition majority in the House, and in +a general election in March, 1784, won a great victory. Then, at the +head of a mixed Cabinet, supported by Tories and King's Friends as well +as by his own followers from among the Whigs, Pitt maintained himself, +secure in the support of George III, but in no sense his agent or tool. +In the {154} next few years, he made his hold secure by his skill in +parliamentary leadership and his success in carrying financial and +administrative reforms. This was the first peace Ministry since that +of Pelham, 1746-1754, which won prestige through efficient government. +It was, however, mainly Tory in temper, and as such distinctly cold and +unfriendly toward America. Pitt himself was undoubtedly in favour of +liberal commercial relations; but in that respect, as in the question +of parliamentary reform, he followed the opinions of his supporters and +of the nation. + +The British policy toward the United States, under the circumstances, +was dictated by a strict adherence to the principles set forth by Lord +Sheffield. Pitt, while Chancellor of the Exchequer under Shelburne, +introduced a very liberal Bill, which, if enacted, would have secured +full commercial reciprocity, including the West India trade. This +failed to pass, however, and was abandoned when Pitt left office in +April, 1783. The Fox-North Ministry followed a different plan by +causing Parliament to pass a Bill authorizing the Crown to regulate the +trade with the West Indies. They then, by proclamation, allowed the +islands to import certain articles from the United States, not +including fish or lumber, and {155} only in British bottoms. It was +hoped that Canada would take the place of the United States in +supplying the West India colonies, and that British vessels would +monopolize the carrying. In 1787 this action was ratified by +Parliament, and the process of discouraging American shipping was +adopted as a national policy. American vessels henceforward came under +the terms of the Navigation Acts, and could take part only in the +direct trade between their own country and England. When John Adams, +in 1785, arrived at London as Minister, and tried to open the subject +of a commercial treaty, he was unable to secure the slightest attention +to the American requests and felt himself to be in an atmosphere of +hostility and social contempt. The British policy proved in a few +years fairly successful. It reduced American shipping trading with +England, it drove American vessels from the British West Indies, and, +owing to the impossibility of the States retaliating separately, it did +not diminish the British market in America. Up to 1789, when the first +Congress of the United States passed a navigation act and adopted +discriminating duties, America remained commercially helpless. The +profit went to British shipowners and merchants. + +The American government naturally {156} turned to the other powers +having American possessions, France and Spain, hoping to secure from +them compensating advantages. So far as France was concerned, the +government of Louis XVI was friendly; but its finances were in such +confusion and its administration so unsteady after 1783 that Jefferson, +Minister to France, could secure no important concessions save one. In +1784, as though to step into the place left vacant by the English, the +French crown, by royal order, permitted direct trade between the United +States and the French West Indies in vessels of less than sixty tons +burden. The result was striking. In a few years the American molasses +trade, driven from the British islands, took refuge at San Domingo, +building up a tremendous sugar export and more than filling the place +of the British trade. In 1790 the commerce of San Domingo surpassed +that of all the British Islands together. Here again, French +friendship shone in contrast to English antagonism. Every American +shipowner felt the difference, and remembered it. + +With Spain the United States was less successful. Jay, Secretary for +Foreign Affairs, undertook negotiations through Diego Gardoqui, a +Spaniard who, during the Revolution, had furnished many cargoes of +supplies. He {157} found that country sharply dissatisfied over the +boundary assigned to the United States. The British, in ceding Florida +to Spain, had not turned over all of their province of 1763, but had +handed that part of it north of thirty-two degrees to the United +States, and, further, had granted the latter the free navigation of the +Mississippi, through Spanish territory. Gardoqui offered in substance +to make a commercial treaty provided the United States would surrender +the claim to navigate the Mississippi for twenty years. Jay, to whose +mind the interests of the seaboard shipowners and producers far +outweighed the desires of the few settlers of the interior waters, was +willing to make the agreement. But an angry protest went up from the +southern States, whose land claims stretched to the Mississippi, and he +could secure, in 1787, a vote of only seven States to five in Congress. +Since all treaties required the consent of nine States, this vote +killed the negotiations. Spain remained unfriendly, and continued to +intrigue with the Indian tribes in the south-western United States with +a view to retaining their support. + +Further north, the United States found itself mortified and helpless +before British antagonism. After 1783 the country had Canada on its +northern border as a small but actively hostile neighbour, for there +{158} thousands of proscribed and ruined Tories had taken refuge. The +governors of Canada, Carlton and Simcoe, as well as the men commanding +the frontier posts, had served against the Americans and regarded them +as rivals. To secure the western fur trade and to retain a hold over +the western Indians was recognized as the correct and necessary policy +for Canada; and the British government, in response to Canadian +suggestions, decided to retain their military posts along the Great +Lakes within the boundaries of the United States. To justify them in +so doing, they pointed with unanswerable truth to the fact that the +United States had not carried out the provisions of the Treaty of 1783 +regarding British debts, and that Tories, contrary to the letter and +spirit of that treaty, were still proscribed by law. The State courts +felt in no way bound to enforce the treaty, nor did State legislatures +choose to carry it out. British debts remained uncollectible, and the +British therefore retained their western posts and through them plied a +lucrative trade with the Indians to the south of the Great Lakes. + +In the years after the war, a steady flow of settlers entered the Ohio +valley, resuming the movement begun before the Revolution, and took up +land in Kentucky and the Northwest territory. By 1792 Kentucky {159} +was ready to be admitted as a State, and Tennessee and Ohio were +organized as territories. These settlers naturally found the Indians +opposing their advance, and the years 1783-1794 are a chronicle of +smouldering border warfare, broken by intermittent truces. During all +this time it was the firm belief of the frontiersmen that the Indian +hostility was stimulated by the British posts, and hatred of England +and the English grew into an article of faith on their part. +Ultimately, the new government under Washington undertook a decisive +campaign. At first, in 1791, General St. Clair, invading Ohio with raw +troops, was fearfully defeated, with butchery and mutilation of more +than two-thirds of his force; but in 1794 General Wayne, with a more +carefully drilled body, compelled the Indians to retreat. Yet with the +British posts still there, a full control was impossible. + +The new constitution, which gave the United States ample powers of +enforcing treaties and making commercial discriminations, did not at +once produce any alteration in the existing unsatisfactory situation. +Spain remained steadily indifferent and unfriendly. France, undergoing +the earlier stages of her own revolution, was incapable of carrying out +any consistent action. The Pitt Ministry, absorbed in the game of +European politics and in internal {160} legislation, sent a Minister, +Hammond, but was content to let its commercial and frontier policies +continue. But when, in 1792, the French Revolution took a graver +character, with the overthrow of the monarchy, and when in 1793 England +joined the European powers in the war against France, while all Europe +watched with horror and panic the progress of the Reign of Terror in +the French Republic, the situation of the United States was suddenly +changed. + +In the spring of 1793 there came the news of the war between England +and France, and, following it by a few days only, an emissary from the +French Republic, One and Indivisible, "Citizen Edmond Genet," arrived +at Charleston, South Carolina, April 15. There now exploded a sudden +overwhelming outburst of sympathy and enthusiasm for the French nation +and the French cause. All the remembered help of the days of Yorktown, +all the tradition of British oppression and ravages, all the recent +irritation at the British trade discrimination and Indian policy +coupled with appreciation of French concessions, swept crowds in every +State and every town into a tempest of welcome to Genet. Shipowners +rushed to apply for privateers' commissions, crowds adopted French +democratic jargon and manners. Democratic clubs were formed on the +model of the Jacobin {161} society, and "Civic Feasts," at which Genet +was present, made the country resound. It looked as though the United +States were certain to enter the European war as an ally of France out +of sheer gratitude, democratic sympathy, and hatred for England. The +French Minister, feeling the people behind him, hastened to send out +privateers and acted as though the United States were already in open +alliance. + +It now fell to the Washington administration to decide a momentous +question. Regardless of the past, regardless of the British policy +since the peace, was it worth while to allow the country to become +involved in war at this juncture? Decidedly not. Before Genet had +presented his credentials, Washington and Jefferson had framed and +issued a declaration of neutrality forbidding American citizens to +violate the law of nations by giving aid to either side. It was not +merely caution which led to this step. The Federalist leaders and most +of their followers--men of property, standing, and law-abiding +habits--were distinctly shocked at the horrors of the Reign of Terror, +and felt with Burke, their old friend and defender in Revolutionary +days, that such liberty as the French demanded was something altogether +alien to that known in the United States or in England. And as the +{162} news became more and more ghastly, the Federalists grew rapidly +to regard England, with all its unfriendliness, with all its commercial +selfishness, as the saving power of civilization, and France as the +chief enemy on earth of God and man. The result was to precipitate the +United States into a new contest, a struggle on the part of the +Federalist administration, led by Hamilton and Washington, to hold back +the country from being hurled into alliance with France or into war +with England. In this, they had to meet the attack of the already +organizing Republican party, and of many new adherents who flocked to +it during the years of excitement. + +The first contest was a short one. Genet, his head turned by his +reception, resented the strict neutrality enforced by the +administration, tried to compel it to recede, endeavoured to secure the +exit of privateersmen in spite of their prohibition, and ultimately in +fury appealed to the people against their government. This conduct +lost him the support of even the most sanguine democrats, and, when the +administration asked for his recall, he fell from his prominence +unregretted. But his successor, Fauchet, a less extreme man, was +warmly welcomed by the opposition leaders, including Madison and +Randolph, Jefferson's {163} successor as Secretary of State, and was +admitted into the inmost councils of the party. + +Hardly was Genet disposed of when a more dangerous crisis arose, caused +by the naval policy of England. When war broke out, the British +cruisers, as was their custom, fell upon French commerce, and +especially upon such neutral commerce as could, under the then +announced principles of international law, be held liable to capture. +Consequently, American vessels, plying their lucrative trade with the +French West Indies, were seized and condemned by British West India +prize courts. It was a British dogma, known as the Rule of 1756, that +if trade by a neutral with enemies' colonies had been prohibited in +peace, it became contraband in time of war, otherwise belligerents, by +simply opening their ports, could employ neutrals to do their trading +for them. In this case, the trade between the French West Indies and +America had not been prohibited in peace, but the seizures were made +none the less, causing a roar of indignation from the entire American +seacoast. Late in 1793, the British Ministry added fresh fuel to the +fire by declaring provisions taken to French territory to be contraband +of war. If an intention to force the United States into alliance with +France had been guiding the {164} Pitt Ministry, no better steps could +have been devised to accomplish the end. As a matter of fact, the Pitt +Ministry thought very little about it in the press of the tremendous +European cataclysm. + +When Congress met in December, 1793, the old questions of Hamilton's +measures and the "monarchism" of the administration were forgotten in +the new crisis. Apparently a large majority in the House, led by +Madison, were ready to sequester British debts, declare an embargo, +build a navy, and in general prepare for a bitter contest; but by great +exertions the administration managed to stave off these drastic steps +by promising to send a special diplomatic mission to prevent war. +During the summer the excitement grew, for it was in this year that +Wayne's campaign against the western Indians took place, which was +generally believed to be rendered necessary by the British retention of +the posts; and also in this same summer the inhabitants of western +Pennsylvania broke into insurrection against the hated excise tax. +This lawlessness was attributed by the Federalists, including +Washington himself, to the demoralizing influence of the French +Revolution, and was therefore suppressed by no less than 15,000 +militia, an action denounced by the Republicans--as Randolph confided +to the French Minister--as an example of {165} despotic brutality. Men +were fast coming to be incapable of cool thought on party questions. + +The special mission to England was undertaken by the Chief Justice, +Jay, the most experienced diplomat in America since the death of +Franklin. Upon arriving in England, he found the country wild with +excitement and horror over the French Revolution, and with all its +interest concentrated upon the effort to carry on war by land and sea. +The Pitt Ministry was now supported by all Tories, representing the +land-holding classes, the clergy, and the professions, and by nearly +all the aristocratic Whigs. Burke, one-time defender of the American +Revolution, was exhausting his energies in eloquent and extravagant +denunciations of the French. Only a handful of radicals, led by Fox, +Sheridan, and Camden, and representing a few constituents, still dared +to proclaim liberal principles. In all other classes of society, +democracy was regarded as synonymous with bestial anarchy and +infidelity. Clearly the United States, from its very nature as a +republic, could hope for no favour, in spite of the noticeably English +prepossessions of Hamilton's party. + +Jay dealt directly and informally with William Grenville, the Secretary +for Foreign Affairs, and seems rapidly to have come to {166} the +conclusion that it was for the interest of the United States to get +whatever it could, rather than to endeavour to haggle over details with +an immovable and indifferent Ministry, thereby hazarding all success. +On his part, Grenville clearly did his best to establish a practicable +working arrangement, agreeing with Jay in so framing the treaty as to +waive "principles" and "claims" and to include precise provisions. The +up-shot was that when Jay finished his negotiations he had secured a +treaty which for the first time established a definite basis for +commercial dealings and removed most of the dangerous outstanding +difficulties. British debts were to be adjusted by a mixed commission, +and American claims for unjust seizures in the West Indies were to be +dealt with in similar fashion. The British were to evacuate the +north-western military posts, and, while they did not withdraw or +modify the so-called "rule of 1756," they agreed to a clear definition +of contraband of war. They were also ready to admit American vessels +of less than seventy tons to the British West Indies, provided the +United States agreed not to export West India products for ten years. +Here Jay, as in his dealings with Gardoqui, showed a willingness to +make a considerable sacrifice in order to gain a definite small point. +On the whole, the treaty {167} comprised all that the Pitt Ministry, +engaged in a desperate war with the French Republic, was likely to +concede. + +The treaty left England in the winter of 1795 and reached America after +the adjournment of Congress. Although it fell far short of what was +hoped for, it still seemed to Washington wholly advisable to accept it +under the circumstances as an alternative to further wrangling and +probable war. Sent under seal of secrecy to the Senate, in special +session, its contents were none the less revealed by an opposition +senator, and a tempest of disappointment and anger swept the country. +In every seaport Jay was execrated as a fool and traitor and burned in +effigy. Washington watched unmoved. The Senate voted ratification by +a bare two-thirds, but struck out the West India article, preferring to +retain the power of re-exporting French West India produce rather than +to acquire the direct trade with the English islands. Washington added +his signature, the British government accepted the amendment, and the +treaty came into effect. The West India privilege was, in fact, +granted by the Pitt Ministry, as in the treaty, owing to the demands of +the West India planters. In America the storm blew itself out in a few +weeks of noise and anger, and the country settled down to make the best +of the privileges {168} gained, which, however incomplete, were well +worth the effort. + +So the Federalist administration kept the United States neutral, and +gave it at last a definite commercial status with England. It did +more, for in August, 1795, the north-western Indians, beaten in battle +and deprived of the presence of their protectors, made a treaty +abandoning all claims to the region south of Lake Erie. The Spanish +government, on hearing of the Jay treaty, came to terms in October, +1795, agreeing to the boundaries of 1783, granting a "right of deposit" +to American trades down the Mississippi at or near New Orleans, and +promising to abandon Indian intrigues. The diplomatic campaign of the +Federalists seemed to be crowned with general success. + +But in the process the passions of the American people had become +deeply stirred, and by the end of 1795 the Federalist party could no +longer, as at the outset, count on the support of all the mercantile +elements and all the townspeople, for, by their policy toward France +and England, Washington, Hamilton, and their associates had set +themselves against the underlying prejudices and beliefs of the voters. +The years of the strong government reaction were at an end. The time +had come to fight for party existence. + + + + +{169} + +CHAPTER IX + +THE TRIUMPH OF DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1795-1805 + +With the temporary shelving of British antagonism, the Federalist +administration passed its second great crisis; but it was immediately +called upon to face new and equally serious differences with France +which were ultimately to prove the cause of its downfall. The +fundamental difficulty in the political situation in America was that +the two parties were now so bitterly opposed as to render every +governmental act a test of party strength. The Republicans, who +accepted the leadership of Jefferson or of Clinton of New York, +comprised all who favoured democracy in any sense--whether that of +human equality, or local self-government, or freedom from taxes, or +sympathy with France--and all who had any grievance against the +administration, from frontiersmen whose cabins had not been protected +against Indians or who had been forced to pay a whisky tax, to seamen +whose ships had not been protected by the Jay treaty. In short, all in +whom still persisted the deep-rooted colonial traditions of opposition +to strong government and dislike of any but local authorities were +{170} summoned to oppose an administration on the familiar ground that +it was working against their liberties by corruption, usurpation, +financial burdens, and gross partisanship for England and against +France. + +On the other side, the Federalists were rapidly acquiring a state of +mind substantially Tory in character. They were coming to dread and +detest "democracy" as dangerous to the family and to society as well as +to government, and to identify it with the guillotine and the +blasphemies of the Worship of Reason. In the furious attacks which, +after the fashion of the day, the opposition papers hurled against +every act of the Federalist leaders, and which aimed as much to defile +their characters as to discredit their policies, they saw a pit of +anarchy yawning. Between parties so constituted, no alternative +remained but a fight to a finish; and, from the moment the Federalists +became genuinely anti-democratic, they were doomed. Only accident or +conspicuous success on the part of their leaders could delay their +destruction. A single false step on their part meant ruin. + +With the ratification of the Jay treaty, a long period of peaceful +relations began between England and the United States. The American +shipowners quickly adapted themselves to the situation, and were soon +{171} prosperously occupied in neutral commerce. In England, American +affairs dropped wholly out of public notice during the exciting and +anxious years of the war of the second coalition. The Pitt Ministry +ended, leaving the country under the grip of a rigid repression of all +liberal thought or utterance, and was followed by the commonplace +Toryism of Addington and his colleagues. Then came the Treaty of +Amiens with France, the year of peace, the renewed war in 1803, and, +after an interval of confused parliamentary wranglings, the return to +power of Pitt in 1804, called by the voice of the nation to meet the +crisis of the threatened French invasion. The United States was +forgotten, diplomatic relations sank to mere routine. Such were the +unquestionable benefits of the execrated treaty made by Jay and +Grenville. + +With France, however, American relations became suddenly strained, as a +result of the same treaty. The French Republic, in the year 1795, was +finally reorganized under a definite constitution as a Directorate--a +republic with a plural executive of five. This government, ceasing to +be merely a revolutionary body, undertook to play the game of grand +politics and compelled all the neighbouring smaller States to submit to +democratic revolutions, accept a constitution on the French model, and +become {172} dependent allies of the French Republic. The local +democratic faction, large or small, was in each case utilized to carry +through this programme, which was always accompanied with corruption +and plunder to swell the revenues of France and fill the pockets of the +directors and their agents. Such a policy the Directorate now +endeavoured, as a matter of course, to carry out with the United +States, expecting to ally themselves with the Jeffersonian party and to +bribe or bully the American Republic into a lucrative alliance. The +way was prepared by the infatuation with which Randolph, Jefferson, +Madison, and other Republican leaders had unbosomed themselves to +Fauchet, and also by an unfortunate blunder which had led Washington to +send James Monroe as Minister to France in 1794. This man was known to +be an active sympathizer with France, and it was hoped that his +influence would assist in keeping friendly relations; but his conduct +was calculated to do nothing but harm. When the news of the Jay treaty +came to France, the Directorate chose to regard it as an unfriendly +act, and Monroe, sharing their feelings, exerted himself rather to +mollify their resentment than to justify his country. + +In 1796 a new Minister, Adet, was sent to the United States to remain +only in case {173} the government should adopt a just policy toward +France. This precipitated a party contest squarely on the issue of +French relations. In the first place Congress, after a bitter struggle +and by a bare majority, voted to appropriate the money to carry the Jay +treaty into effect. This was a defeat for the French party. In the +second place, in spite of a manifesto issued by Adet, threatening +French displeasure, the presidential electors gave a majority of three +votes for Adams over Jefferson to succeed Washington. The election had +been a sharp party struggle, the whole theory of a deliberate choice by +electors vanishing in the stress of partisan excitement. After this +second defeat, the French Minister withdrew, severing diplomatic +relations; and French vessels began to capture American merchantmen, to +impress the country with the serious results of French irritation. The +Washington administration now recalled Monroe and sent C. C. Pinckney +to replace him, but the Directory, while showering compliments upon +Monroe, refused to receive Pinckney at all and virtually expelled him +from the country. In the midst of these annoying events, Washington's +term closed, and the sorely tried man, disgusted with party abuse and +what he felt to be national ingratitude, retired to his Virginia +estates, no longer {174} the president of the whole country, but the +leader of a faction. His Farewell Address showed, under its stately +phrases, his detestation of party controversy and his fears for the +future. + +Washington's successor, Adams, was a man of less calmness and +steadiness of soul; independent, but with a somewhat petulant habit of +mind, and nervously afraid of ceasing to be independent; a man of sound +sense, yet of a too great personal vanity. His treatment of the French +situation showed national pride and dignity as well as an adherence to +the traditional Federalist policy of avoiding war. Unfortunately, his +handling of the party leaders was so deficient in tact as to assist in +bringing quick and final defeat upon himself and upon them. + +The relations with France rapidly developed into an international +scandal. Adams, supported by his party, determined to send a mission +of three, including Pinckney, in order to restore friendly relations, +as well as to protest against depredations and seizures which the few +French cruisers at sea were now beginning to make. In the spring of +1798, however, the commission reported that its efforts had failed, and +Adams was obliged to lay its correspondence before Congress. This +showed that the great obstacle in the way of carrying on {175} +negotiations with the French had been the persistent demands on the +part of Talleyrand--the French Minister of Foreign Affairs--for a +preliminary money payment, either under the form of a so-called "loan" +or as a bribe outright. Such a revelation of venality struck dumb the +Republican leaders who had kept asserting their distrust of Adams's +sincerity and accusing the administration of injustice toward France. +It took all heart out of the opposition members of Congress, and +encouraged the Federalists to commit the government to actual +hostilities with the hated Democrats and Jacobins. Declaring the +treaties of 1778 to be abrogated, Congress authorized naval reprisals, +voted money and a loan, and so began what was called a "quasi-war," +since neither side made a formal declaration. Adams, riding on the +crest of a brief wave of popularity, declared in a message to Congress +that he would never send another Minister to France without receiving +assurances that he would be received as "befitted the representative of +a great, free, powerful, and independent nation." "Millions for +defence, but not a cent for tribute!" became the Federalist watch-word; +and, when the little navy of a few frigates and sloops began to bring +in French men-of-war and privateers as prizes, the country actually +felt a thrill of pride and {176} manhood. For the moment, the United +States stood side by side with England in fighting the dangerous enemy +of civilization. American Federalist and British Tory were at one; +Adams and Pitt were carrying on the same war. + +Unfortunately for the Federalists, they failed to appreciate the +fundamental differences between the situation in England and in the +United States, for they went on to imitate the mother country not +merely in fighting the French, but in seeking to suppress what they +felt to be dangerous "Jacobinical" features of American politics. In +the summer of 1798, three laws were enacted which have become +synonymous with party folly. Two--the Alien Acts--authorized the +President at his discretion to imprison or deport any alien, friend or +enemy; the third--the Sedition Act--punished by fine and imprisonment +any utterance or publication tending to cause opposition to a federal +law or to bring into contempt the federal government or any of its +officers. Such statutes had stood in England since 1793 and were used +to suppress democratic assailants of the monarchy; but such a law in +the United States could mean nothing more than the suppression by +Federalist courts of criticisms upon the administration made by +Republican newspapers. {177} It furnished every opposition agitator +with a deadly weapon for use against the administration; and when the +Sedition Law was actually enforced, and a half-dozen Republican editors +were subjected to fine or imprisonment for scurrilous but scarcely +dangerous utterances, the demonstration of the inherently tyrannical +nature of the Federalists seemed to be complete. It was an +unpardonable political blunder. + +Equally damaging to the prosperity of the Federalist party was the fact +that the French Republic, instead of accepting the issue, showed a +complete unwillingness to fight, and protested in public that it was +having a war forced upon it. Talleyrand showered upon the United +States, through every channel, official or unofficial, assurances of +kindly feelings, and, so soon as he learned of Adams's demand for a +suitable reception for an American Minister, gave the required +assurance in his exact words. Under the circumstances, the war +preparations of the Federalists became visibly superfluous, especially +a provisional army which Congress had authorized under Hamilton as +active commander. The opposition press and speakers denounced this as +a Federalist army destined to act against the liberties of the people; +and the administration could point to no real danger to justify its +existence. + +{178} + +So high ran party spirit that the Virginian leaders thought or affected +to think it necessary to prepare for armed resistance to Federalist +oppression; and Madison and Jefferson, acting through the State +legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky respectively, caused the adoption +of two striking series of resolutions stating the crisis in Republican +phraseology. In each case, after denouncing the Alien and Sedition +laws as unconstitutional, the legislatures declared that the +constitution was nothing more than a compact between sovereign States; +that the Federal government, the creature of the compact, was not the +final judge of its powers, and that in case of a palpable usurpation of +powers by the Federal government it was the duty of the States to +"interpose," in the words of Madison, or to "nullify" the Federal law, +as Jefferson phrased it. Such language seemed to Washington, Adams, +and their party to signify that the time was coming when they must +fight for national existence; but to the opposition it seemed no more +than a restatement of time-hallowed American principles of government, +necessary to save liberty from a reactionary faction. Party hatred now +rivalled that between revolutionary Whigs and Tories. + +Under these circumstances the election of 1800 took place. The +Federalist party {179} leaders, feeling the ground quaking under them, +clung the more desperately to the continuance of the French "quasi-war" +as their sole means for rallying popular support. But at this stage +President Adams, seeing the folly of perpetuating a sham war for mere +party advantage, determined to reopen negotiations. This precipitated +a bitter quarrel, for the members of his Cabinet and the leading +congressmen still regarded Hamilton, now a private citizen in New York, +as the real leader, and followed him in urging the continuance of +hostilities. Adams, unable to manage his party opponents openly, took +refuge in sudden, secret, and, as they felt, treacherous conduct and +sent nominations for a new French mission without consulting his +advisers. The Federalist Senate, raging at Adams's stupidity, could +not refuse to ratify the appointments, and so in 1799 the new mission +sailed, was respectfully received by Bonaparte, and was promptly +admitted to negotiations. + +The Federalist party now ran straight toward defeat; for, while the +leaders could not avoid supporting Adams for a second term, they hated +him as a blunderer and marplot. On his part, his patience exhausted, +Adams dismissed two of his secretaries, in a passion, in 1800. Later, +through the wiles of Aaron Burr, Republican leader in New {180} York, a +pamphlet, written by Hamilton to prove Adams's utter unfitness for the +Presidency, was brought to light and circulated. Against this +discredited and disorganized party, the Republicans, supporting +Jefferson again for the Presidency and thundering against the Sedition +Law, triumphantly carried a clear majority of electoral votes in the +autumn; but by a sheer oversight they gave an equal number for +Jefferson and for Burr, who was only intended for Vice-president. +Hence under the terms of the constitution it became necessary for the +House of Representatives to make the final selection, voting by States. +It fell thus to the lot of the Federalist House of 1800-1801 to choose +the next President, and for a while the members showed an inclination +to support Burr, as at least a Northerner, rather than Jefferson. But +better judgments ruled, and finally Jefferson was awarded the place +which he had in fairness won. The last weeks of Federalist rule was +filled with a discreditable effort to save what was possible from the +wreck. New offices were established, including a whole system of +circuit judgeships; and Adams spent his time up to the last hour of his +term in signing commissions, stealing away in the early morning in +order not to see the inauguration of his rival. + +{181} + +So fell the Federalist party from power. It had a brilliant record in +legislation and administration; it had created a new United States; it +had shown a statesmanship never equalled before or since on the +American continent; but it ruined itself by endeavouring openly to +establish a system of government founded on distrust of the people, and +modelled after British precedents. For a few years, England and the +United States approached nearer in government and policy than at any +other time. But, while in England a large part of society--the +nobility, gentry, middle classes, the professions, the church, and all +strong political elements--supported Pitt in suppressing free speech +and individual liberty, the Federalists represented only a minority, +and their social principles were abhorrent to the vast majority of the +inhabitants of the United States. + +The Republican party, which conquered by what Jefferson considered to +be a revolution no less important than that of 1776, represented a +reaction to the old ideals of government traditional in colonial +times,--namely as little taxation as possible, as much local +independence as could exist, and the minimum of Federal authority. +Jefferson professed to believe that the conduct of foreign relations +was the only important function of the central government, {182} all +else properly belonging to the States. So complete was the Republican +victory that the party had full power to put its principles into +effect. It controlled both Houses of Congress, and was blessed with +four years of peace and prosperity. Thomas Jefferson, for all his +radicalism in language, was a shrewd party leader, whose actions were +uniformly cautious and whose entire habit of mind favoured avoidance of +any violent change. "Scientific" with the general interests of a +French eighteenth-century "philosopher," he was limited in his views of +public policy by his education as a Virginia planter, wholly out of +sympathy with finance, commerce, or business. Under his guidance, +accordingly, the United States government was subjected to what he +called "a chaste reformation," rather than to a general overturning. + +All expenses were cut down, chiefly at the cost of the army and navy; +all appropriations were rigorously diminished, and all internal taxes +were swept away. Since commerce continued active, there still remained +a surplus revenue, and this Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treasury, +applied to extinguishing the debt. A few of the more important Federal +offices were taken from embittered Federalists and given to +Republicans, but there was no general {183} proscription of +office-holders. The only action at all radical in character was the +repeal of the law establishing new circuit judgeships, a step which +legislated a number of Federalists out of office. The repeal was +denounced by fervid Federalist orators as a violation of the +constitution and a death-blow to the Union; but the appointments under +the law itself had been so grossly partisan that the country was +unalarmed. With these steps the Republican reaction ended. Jefferson +and his party carried through no alteration of the central departments; +they abandoned no Federal power except that of imposing an excise; they +did not even repeal the charter of the National Bank. The real change +lay in the more strictly economical finances and in the general spirit +of government. The Federalist opposition, criticizing every act with +bitterness and continually predicting ruin, found that under the +"Jacobins" the country remained contented and prosperous and was in no +more danger of atheism or the guillotine than it had been under Adams. +So matters went on, year after year, the Federal government playing its +part quietly and the American people carrying on their vocations in +peace and prosperity. + +Jefferson's general theory of foreign affairs was based on the idea +that diplomacy was {184} mainly a matter of bargain and sale, with +national commerce as the deciding factor. He believed so firmly that +national self-interest would lead all European powers to make suitable +treaties with the United States that he considered the navy as wholly +superfluous, and would have been glad to sell it. But when +circumstances arose calling for a different sort of diplomacy, he was +ready to modify his methods; and he so far recognized the unsuitability +of peaceful measures in dealing with the Barbary corsairs as to permit +the small American navy to carry on extensive operations during 1801-3, +which ended in the submission of Tripoli and Algiers. + +Simultaneously, Jefferson was brought face to face with a diplomatic +crisis, arising from the peculiar actions of his old ally, France. At +the outset of his administration, he found the treaty made by Adams's +commissioners in 1800 ready for ratification, and thus began his career +with all questions settled, thanks to his predecessor. But he had been +in office only a few months when the behaviour of the Spanish officials +at New Orleans gave cause for alarm; for they suddenly terminated the +right of deposit, granted in 1795. It was quickly rumoured that the +reason was to be found in the fact that France, now under the First +Consul, Napoleon, {185} had regained Louisiana. It was, in fact, true. +Bonaparte overthrew the Directory in 1799 and established himself, +under the thin disguise of "First Consul," as practical military despot +in France. He had immediately embraced the idea of establishing a +western colonial empire, which should be based on San Domingo, now +controlled by insurgent negroes, and which should include Louisiana. +By a treaty of October 1, 1800, he compelled Spain to retrocede the +former French province in return for a promise to establish a kingdom +of "Etruria" for a Spanish prince. During 1802 large armaments sailed +to San Domingo and began the process of reconquest. It needed only the +completion of that task for Napoleon to be ready to take over +Louisiana, and thereby to gain absolute control over the one outlet +from the interior territories of the United States. + +Jefferson at once recognized the extreme gravity of the situation. +During the years after the English, Spanish, and Indian treaties, +emigrants had steadily worked their way into the inner river valleys. +Western New York and Pennsylvania were rapidly filling, Ohio was +settled up to the Indian treaty line, Kentucky and Tennessee were +doubling in population, and fringes of pioneer communities stretched +along the Ohio and {186} Mississippi rivers. In 1796 Tennessee was +admitted as a State, and Ohio was now, in 1801, on the point of asking +admission. For France to shut the only possible outlet for these +communities would be a sentence of economic death; and Jefferson was so +deeply moved as to write to Livingston, his Minister to France, that if +the rumour of the cession were true, "We must marry ourselves to the +British fleet and nation." The United States must fight rather than +submit. He sent Monroe to France, instructed to buy an outlet, but the +latter only arrived in time to join with Livingston in signing a treaty +for the purchase of the whole of Louisiana. + +This startling event was the result of the failure of Napoleon's forces +to reconquer San Domingo. Foreseeing the loss of Louisiana in case of +the probable renewal of war with England, and desirous of money for +immediate use, the Corsican adventurer suddenly threw Louisiana into +the astonished hands of Livingston and Monroe. He had never, it is +true, given Spain the promised compensation; he had never taken +possession, and he had promised not to sell it; but such trifles never +impeded Napoleon, nor, in this case, did they hinder Jefferson. When +the treaty came to America, Congress was quickly convened, the Senate +voted to ratify, the money was appropriated, and the whole {187} vast +region was bought for the sum of sixty million francs. Jefferson +himself, the apostle of a strict construction of the constitution, +could not discover any clause authorizing such a purchase; but his +party was undisturbed, and the great annexation was carried through, +Jefferson acquiescing in the inconsistency. + +The chagrin of the Federalists at this enormous south-westward +extension of the country was exceeded only by their alarm when an +attempt was made to eject certain extremely partisan judges from their +offices in Pennsylvania and on the Federal bench by the process of +impeachment. In the first two cases the effort was successful, one +Pennsylvania judge and one Federal district judge being ejected; but +when, in 1805, the attack was aimed at the Pennsylvania supreme +justices and at Justice Chase of the United States Supreme Court, the +process broke down. The defence of the accused judges was legally too +strong to be overcome, and each impeachment failed. With this the last +echo of the party contest seemed to end, for by this time the +Federalists were too discredited and too weak to make a political +struggle. Their membership in Congress had shrunk to small figures, +they had lost State after State, and in 1804 they practically let +Jefferson's re-election go by default. He received all but fourteen +{188} electoral votes, out of 176. Some of the New England leaders +plotted secession, but they were not strong enough for that. The party +seemed dead. In 1804 its ablest mind, Hamilton, was killed in a duel +with Burr, the Vice-president, and nobody remained capable of national +leadership. + +So the year 1805 opened in humdrum prosperity and national +self-satisfaction. Jefferson could look upon a country in which he +held a position rivalled only by that of a European monarch or an +English prime minister. The principles of Republican equality, of +States' rights, of economy and retrenchment, of peace and local +self-government seemed triumphant beyond reach of attack. While Europe +resounded with battles and marches, America lived in contented +isolation, free from the cares of unhappy nations living under the +ancient ideals. + + + + +{189} + +CHAPTER X + +THE SECOND PERIOD OF COMMERCIAL ANTAGONISM, 1805-1812 + +In the year 1805, the happy era of Republican prosperity and complacency +came suddenly and violently to an end, for by this time forces were in +operation which drew the United States, in utter disregard of Jefferson's +theories, into the sweep of the tremendous political cyclone raging in +Europe. In 1803, Napoleon forced England into renewed war, and for two +years endeavoured by elaborate naval manoeuvres to secure control of the +Channel for a sufficient time to permit him to transport his "Grand Army" +to the British shore. In 1805, however, these plans broke down; and the +crushing defeat of the allied French and Spanish navies at Trafalgar +marked the end of any attempt to challenge British maritime supremacy. +The great military machine of the French army was then turned eastward +against the armies of the coalition which England, under Pitt, was +forming; and in a series of astonishing campaigns it was used to beat +down the Austrians in 1805 at Austerlitz; to overwhelm the Prussians in +1806 at Jena and Auerstadt; and to force the Russians, after {190} a +severe winter campaign in East Prussia, to come to terms in 1807. +Napoleon and the Tsar, Alexander, meeting on the bridge at Tilsit, July +7, divided Europe between them by agreeing upon a policy of spheres of +interest, which left Turkey and the Orient for Russian expansion and all +the beaten western monarchies for French domination. The Corsican +captain, trampling on the ruins both of the French monarchy and the +French Republic, stood as the most terrible and astounding figure in the +world, invincible by land, the master of Europe. + +But the withdrawal of the French from any attempt to contest the sea left +England the equally undisputed master of all oceans, and rendered the +French wholly dependent upon neutral nations for commerce. As French +conquests led to annexations of territory in Italy and in Germany, these +regions also found themselves unable to import with their own vessels, +and so neutral commerce found ever-increasing markets dependent upon its +activity. Now the most energetic maritime neutral power was the United +States, whose merchantmen hastened to occupy the field left vacant by the +practical extinction of the French carrying trade. Until 1807 they +shared this with the Scandinavian countries; but after that year +Napoleon, by threats and the terror {191} of his name, forced an +unwelcome alliance upon all the States of Europe, and the United States +became the sole important neutral. + +In these circumstances, the merchant shipping of the United States +flourished enormously, the more especially since, by importing and +immediately re-exporting West India products from the French islands, +Yankee skippers were able to avoid the dangerous "Rule of 1756," and to +send sugar and cocoa from French colonies to Europe and England under the +guise of American produce. By 1805, the whole supply of European sugar +was carried in American bottoms, to the enormous profit of the United +States. American ships also shared largely in the coasting trade of +Europe, carrying goods between ports where British ships were naturally +excluded. In fact, the great prosperity and high customs receipts to +which the financial success of the Jeffersonians was due depended to a +great extent on the fortunate neutral situation of the United States. + +By 1805, the British shipowners felt that flesh and blood could not +endure the situation. Here were France and her allies easily escaping +the hardships of British naval pressure by employing neutrals to carry on +their trade. Worse still, the Americans, by the device of entering and +clearing {192} French sugar at an American port, were now able calmly to +take it to England and undersell the West Indian planters in their own +home markets. Pamphleteers began to criticize the government for +permitting such unfair competition, Lord Sheffield, as in 1783, leading +the way. In October, 1805, James Stephen, a far abler writer, summed up +the anger of the British ship-owners and naval officers in a pamphlet +entitled, "War in disguise, or the Frauds of the Neutral Trade." He +asserted that the whole American neutral commerce was nothing more or +less than an evasion of the Rule of 1756 for the joint benefit of France +and the United States, and he called upon the government to put a stop to +this practical alliance of America with Napoleon. This utterance seems +to have made a profound impression; for a time Stephen's views became the +fixed beliefs of influential public men as well as of the naval and +shipowning interests. + +The first steps indicating British restlessness were taken by the Pitt +Ministry, which began, in 1804, a policy of rigid naval search for +contraband cargoes, largely carried on off American ports. Whatever +friendly views Pitt may once have entertained toward the Americans, his +Ministry now had for its sole object the contest with {193} France and +the protection of British interests. In July, 1805, a severe blow was +suddenly struck by Sir William Scott, who as chief Admiralty judge +rendered a decision to the effect that French sugar, entered at an +American custom-house and re-exported with a rebate of the duty, was good +prize under the Rule of 1756. This placed all American re-exportation of +French West Indian produce at the mercy of British cruisers; and the +summer of 1805 saw a sudden descent of naval officers upon their prey, +causing an outcry of anger from every seaport between Maine and Maryland. +The day of reckoning had come, and Jefferson and Madison, his Secretary +of State, were compelled to meet the crisis. Fortunately, as it +appeared, for the United States, the Pitt Ministry ended with the death +of its leader on January 23, 1806, and was succeeded by a coalition in +which Lord Grenville, author of the Jay treaty, was prime Minister, and +Fox, an avowed friend of America, was Foreign Secretary. While it was +not reasonably to be expected that any British Ministry would throw over +the traditional naval policy of impressments or venture to run directly +counter to shipping interests, it was open to anticipation that some such +compromise as the Jay treaty might be agreed upon, which would relieve +the United {194} States from arbitrary exactions during the European war. +The Grenville Ministry showed its good intentions by abandoning the +policy of captures authorized by Scott, and substituting, on May 16, +1806, a blockade of the French coast from Ostend to the Seine. This +answered the purpose of hindering trade with France without raising +troublesome questions, and actually allowed American vessels to take +sugar to Northern Europe. + +Between 1804 and 1806, Jefferson had brought the United States to the +verge of war with Spain through insisting that Napoleon's cession of +Louisiana had included West Florida. At the moment when British seizures +began, he was attempting at once to frighten Spain by warlike words and, +by a payment of two million dollars, to induce France to compel Spain to +acknowledge the American title to the disputed territory. For a number +of years, therefore, and until the scheme fell through, Jefferson +cultivated especially friendly relations with the government of Napoleon, +not from any of the former Republican enthusiasm, but solely on +diplomatic grounds. Hence, although nominally neutral in the great war, +he bore the appearance of a French partisan. + +Jefferson felt that he had in his possession a thoroughly adequate means +to secure {195} favourable treatment from England, by simply threatening +commercial retaliation. The American trade, he believed, was so +necessary to the prosperity of England that for the sake of retaining it +that country would make any reasonable concession. That there was a +basis of truth in this belief it would be impossible to deny; for England +consumed American cotton and exported largely to American markets. With +this trade cut off, manufacturers and exporters would suffer, as they had +suffered in the revolutionary period. But Jefferson ignored what every +American merchant knew, that military and naval considerations weighed +fully as heavily with England as mercantile needs, and that a country +which had neither a ship-of-the-line, nor a single army corps in +existence, commanded, in an age of world warfare, very slight respect. +Jefferson's prejudice against professional armed forces and his ideal of +war as a purely voluntary matter, carried on as in colonial times, was +sufficiently proclaimed by him to be well understood across the Atlantic. +Openly disbelieving in war, avowedly determined not to fight, he +approached a nation struggling for life with the greatest military power +on earth, and called upon it to come to terms for business reasons. + +His first effort was made by causing {196} Congress to pass a +Non-importation Act, excluding certain British goods, which was not to go +into effect until the end of 1806. With this as his sole weapon, he sent +Monroe to make a new treaty, demanding free commerce and the cessation of +the impressment of seamen from American vessels in return for the +continued non-enforcement of the Non-importation Act. Such a task was +more difficult than that laid upon Jay twelve years before; and Monroe, +in spite of the fact that he was dealing with the same Minister, failed +to accomplish even so much as his predecessor. From August to December +he negotiated, first with Lord Holland, then, after Fox's death, with +Lord Howick; but the treaty which he signed on December 1, 1806, +contained not one of the points named in his instructions. Monroe found +the British willing to make only an agreement like the Jay treaty which, +while containing special provisions to render the situation tolerable, +should refuse to yield any British contentions. That was the Whig policy +as much in 1806 as it had been in 1766. The concessions were slight; and +the chief one, regarding the re-exportation of French West Indian +produce, permitted it only on condition that the goods were bona fide of +American ownership, and had paid in the United States a duty of at least +two per cent. Jefferson {197} did not even submit the treaty to the +Senate. + +After this failure, the situation grew graver. Napoleon, in December, +1806, issued from Berlin a decree declaring that, in retaliation for the +aggressions of England upon neutral commerce, the British Isles were in +blockade and all trade with them was forbidden. British goods were to be +absolutely excluded from the continent. The reply of the Grenville +Ministry to this was an Order in Council, January, 1807, prohibiting +neutral vessels from trading between the ports of France or her allies; +but this was denounced as utterly weak by Perceval and Canning in +opposition. In April, 1807, the Grenville Ministry, turned out of office +by the half insane George III, was replaced by a thoroughly Tory cabinet, +under the Duke of Portland, whose chief members in the Commons were +George Canning and Spencer Perceval, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of +the Exchequer respectively. The United States was now to undergo +treatment of a new kind at the hands of Tories who despised its +institutions, felt only contempt for the courage of its government, and +were guided as regards American commerce by the doctrines of Lord +Sheffield and James Stephen. + +An Order in Council of November 11, {198} 1807, drafted by Perceval and +endorsed by all the rest of the Cabinet, declared that no commerce with +France or her allies was henceforward to be permitted unless it had +passed through English ports. To this Napoleon retorted by the Milan +Decree of December, 1807, proclaiming that all vessels which had been +searched by British, or which came by way of England, were good prize. +Henceforth, then, neutral commerce was positively prohibited. The +merchantmen of the United States could continue to trade at all only by +definitely siding with one power or the other. The object of the British +order was declared to be retaliation on Napoleon. Its actual effect was +to place American trade once more under the rule of the Navigation Acts. +As in the days before 1776, American vessels must make England their +"staple" or "entrepôt," and could go only where permitted to by British +orders under penalty of forfeiture. This measure was sharply attacked in +Parliament by the Whigs, especially by Grenville and Howick, of the late +Ministry, but was triumphantly sustained by the Tories. + +At this time the chronic grievance of the impressment of seamen from +American vessels grew suddenly acute. In the years of the great war, the +American merchant marine, {199} with its safe voyages and good pay, +offered a highly attractive prospect for English sailors, who dreaded the +danger, the monotony, and the severe discipline of British men-of-war. +They swarmed by thousands into American service, securing as rapidly as +possible, not infrequently by fraudulent means, the naturalization papers +by which they hoped to escape the press-gang. Ever since 1793 British +naval officers, recognizing no right of expatriation, had systematically +impressed British seamen found on American ships and, owing to the +difficulty in distinguishing the two peoples, numerous natives of New +England and the middle States found themselves imprisoned on the +"floating hell" of a British ship-of-the-line in an epoch when brutality +characterized naval discipline. In August, 1807, the United States was +stirred to fury over the forcible seizure by the British _Leopard_ of +three Englishmen from the U.S.S. _Chesapeake_, which, unprepared for +defence, had to suffer unresisting. So hot was the general anger that +Jefferson could easily have led Congress into hostile measures, if not an +actual declaration of war, over the multiplied seizures and this last +insult. + +But Jefferson clung to peace, and satisfied himself by ordering British +men-of-war out of American ports and sending a {200} demand for +reparation, with which he linked a renunciation of the right of +impressment. When Congress met in December, he induced it to pass a +general embargo, positively prohibiting the departure of American vessels +to foreign ports. Since at the same time the Non-importation Act came +into effect, all imports and exports were practically suspended. His +idea was that the total cessation of American commerce would inflict such +discomfort upon British and French consumers that each country would be +forced to abandon its oppressive measures. + +Rarely has a country, at the instance of one man, inflicted a severer +strain upon its citizens. The ravages of French and English together, +since the outbreak of war in 1793, did not do so much damage as the +embargo did in one year, for it threatened ruin to every shipowner, +importer, and exporter in the United States. Undoubtedly Jefferson and +his party had in mind the success of the non-importation agreements +against the Stamp Act and the Townshend duties, but what was then the +voluntary action of a great majority was now a burden imposed by one part +of the country upon another. The people of New York and New England +simply would not obey the Act. To enforce it against Canada became an +impossibility, and to prevent vessels from escaping a {201} matter of +great difficulty. Jefferson persisted doggedly, and induced Congress to +pass laws giving revenue collectors extraordinary powers of search and +seizure, but without results. + +Under this intolerable grievance, the people of the oppressed regions +rapidly lost their enthusiasm for the Democratic administration. Turning +once more to the Federalist party, which had seemed practically extinct, +they threw State after State into its hands, and actually threatened the +Republican control in the Presidential election of 1808. Had a coalition +been arranged between the disgusted Republican factions of New York and +Pennsylvania and the Federalists of New England, Delaware, and Maryland, +James Madison might well have been beaten for successor to Jefferson. +But worse remained behind. The outraged New Englanders, led by Timothy +Pickering and others, began to use again, in town-meetings and +legislatures, the old-time language of 1774, once employed against the +Five Intolerable Acts, and to threaten secession. As Jefferson said +later, "I felt the foundations of the government shaken under my feet by +the New England townships." + +By this time, it was definitely proved that as a means of coercion the +embargo was worthless. English manufacturers and their {202} workmen +complained, but English ship-owners profited, and crowds of British +seamen returned perforce to their home, even at times into the royal +navy. Canning, for the Portland Ministry, sarcastically declined to be +moved, observing that the embargo, whatever its motives, was practically +the same as Napoleon's system, and England could not submit to being +driven to surrender to France even to regain the American market or +relieve the Americans from their self-inflicted sufferings. Napoleon now +gave an interesting taste of his peculiar methods, for on April 17, 1808, +he issued the Bayonne Decree, ordering the confiscation of all American +vessels found in French ports, on the ground that, since the embargo +prohibited the exit of American ships, these must, in reality, be +English! Thus he gathered in about eight million dollars' worth. The +policy had to be abandoned, and in the utmost ill-humour Congress +repealed the embargo, on March 1, 1809, substituting non-intercourse with +England and France. Thus Jefferson left office under the shadow of a +monumental failure. His theory of commercial coercion had completely +broken down; and he had damaged his own and his party's prestige to such +an extent that the moribund Federalist organization had sprung to life +and threatened the existence of the Union. + +{203} + +From this time onward, the New Englanders assumed the character of +ultra-admirers of Great Britain. True, their vessels suffered from +British seizures; but no British confiscations had done them such harm as +the embargo, or taken such discreditable advantage of a transparent +pretext as the Bayonne Decree. Belonging to the wealthy classes, they +admired and respected England as defender of the world's civilization +against Napoleon, and they detested Jefferson and Madison as tools of the +enemy of mankind. They justified impressments, spoke respectfully of the +British doctrines of trade, and corresponded freely with British public +men. They stood, in short, exactly where the Republicans had stood in +1793, supporters of a foreign power with which the Federal administration +was in controversy. In Congress and outside, they made steady, bitter +menacing attacks on the integrity and honesty of the Republicans. + +Under Jefferson's successor, the policy of commercial pressure was +carried to its impotent conclusion. At first the action of the British +government seemed to crown Madison with triumph. In the winter of 1809, +the majority in Congress had talked freely of substituting war for the +embargo; and at the same time the Whigs in Parliament, led by Grenville, +had attacked Canning for his {204} insolence toward the United States as +likely to cause war. Whitbread called attention to the similarity +between the conditions in 1809 and 1774, when "the same infatuation +seemed to prevail," the same certainty existed that the Americans would +not fight, and the same confident assertions were made that they could +not do without England. The comparison possessed much truth, for the +Tories of 1809 were as indifferent to American feelings as those of 1774, +and pushed their commercial policy just as North had done his political +system, in the same contemptuous certainty that the Americans would never +fight. Yet Canning showed sufficient deference to his assailants to +instruct Erskine, British Minister at Washington, to notify Madison that +the Orders would be withdrawn in case the United States kept its +non-intercourse with France, recognized the Rule of 1756, and authorized +British men-of-war to enforce the Non-intercourse Act. + +The immediate result was surprising, for Erskine, eager to restore +harmony, did not disclose or carry out his instructions, but accepted the +continuance by the United States of non-intercourse against France as a +sufficient concession. He announced that the Orders in Council would be +withdrawn on June 10; Madison in turn promptly issued a proclamation +reopening trade, and {205} swarms of American vessels rushed across the +Atlantic. But Canning, in harsh language, repudiated the arrangement of +his over-sanguine agent, and Madison was forced to the mortifying step of +reimposing non-intercourse by a second proclamation. Still worse +remained, for when F. J. Jackson, the next British Minister, arrived, the +President had to undergo the insult of being told that he had connived +with Erskine in violating his instructions. The refusal to hold further +relations with the blunt emissary was a poor satisfaction. All this +time, moreover, reparation for the _Chesapeake_ affair was blocked, since +it had been coupled with a demand for the renunciation of impressments, +something that no British Ministry would have dared to yield. + +On the part of Napoleon, the Non-intercourse Act offered another +opportunity for plunder. When he first heard of Erskine's concessions, +he was on the point of meeting them, but on learning of their failure he +changed about, commanded the sequestration of all American vessels +entering European ports, and in May, 1810, by the Rambouillet Decree, he +ordered their confiscation and sale. The ground assigned was that the +Non-intercourse Act forbade any French or English vessel to enter +American ports under penalty of confiscation. {206} None had been +confiscated, but they might be. Hence he acted. Incidentally he helped +to fill his treasury, and seized about ten millions of American property. + +By this time it was clear to most Americans that, however unfriendly the +British policy, it was honesty itself compared to that of the Emperor, +whose sole aim seemed to be to ensnare American vessels for the purpose +of seizing them. The Federalists in Congress expatiated on his perfidy +and bare-faced plunder, but nothing could shake the intention of Madison +to stick to commercial bargaining. Congress now passed another Act, +destined to be the last effort at peaceful coercion. Trade was opened, +but the President was authorized to reimpose non-intercourse with either +nation if the other would withdraw its decrees. This Act, known always +as the Macon Bill No. 2, became law in May, 1810, and Napoleon +immediately seized the occasion for further sharp practice. He caused an +unofficial, unsigned letter to be shown to the American Minister at Paris +stating that the French decrees would be withdrawn on November 2, 1810, +"it being understood that the English should withdraw theirs by that time +or the United States should cause its rights to be respected by England." +Madison accordingly reimposed non-intercourse with {207} England on the +date named, and considered the French decrees withdrawn. The situation +was regarded by him as though he had entered into a contract with +Napoleon, which compelled him to assert that the decrees were at an end, +although he had no other evidence than the existence of the situation +arising from the Macon Bill. + +There followed a period during which the American Minister at London, +William Pinkney, endeavoured without success to convince the British +government that the decrees actually were withdrawn. The Portland +Ministry had fallen in 1809, and the sharp-tongued Canning was replaced +in the Foreign Office by the courteous Marquess Wellesley; but Spencer +Perceval, author of the Orders in Council, was Prime Minister and stiffly +determined to adhere to his policy. James Stephen and George Rose, in +Parliament, stood ready to defend them, and the Tory party as a whole +accepted their necessity. When, therefore, Pinkney presented his request +to Wellesley, the latter naturally demanded something official from +Napoleon, which neither Pinkney nor Madison could supply. Finally, in +February, 1811, Pinkney broke off diplomatic relations and returned home, +having played his difficult part with dignity. To aggravate the +situation Napoleon's cruisers continued, {208} whenever they had a +chance, to seize and burn American vessels bound for England, and his +port authorities to sequester vessels arriving from England. The decrees +were not in fact repealed. + +Madison had committed himself, however, to upholding the honour of +Napoleon--a task from which any other man would have recoiled--and the +United States continued to insist on a fiction. Madison's conduct in +this affair was that of a shrewd lawyer-like man who tried to carry on +diplomacy between two nations fighting to the death as though it were a +matter of contracts, words and phrases of legal meaning. To Napoleon, +legality was an incomprehensible idea. To the Tory ministries, +struggling to maintain their country against severe economic pressure, +facts, not words, counted, and facts based on naval force. Upon the +Jeffersonian and Madisonian attempts at peaceful coercion they looked +with mingled annoyance and contempt, believing, as they did, that the +whole American policy was that of a weak and cowardly nation trying by +pettifogging means to secure favourable trade conditions. The situation +had reached a point where the United States had nothing to hope from +either contestant, by continuing this policy. + +At this juncture a new political force {209} appeared. By 1811 the +old-time Republican leaders, trained in the school of Jeffersonian +ideals, were practically bankrupt. Faction paralyzed government, and +Congress seemed, by its timid attitude, to justify the taunt of Quincy of +Massachusetts that the Republican party could not be kicked into a war. +But there appeared on the stage a new sort of Republican. In the western +counties of the older States and in the new territories beyond the +mountains, the frontier element, once of small account in the country and +wholly disregarded under the Federalists, was multiplying, forming +communities and governments, where the pioneer habits had created a +democracy that was distinctly pugnacious. Years of danger from Indians, +of rivalry with white neighbours over land titles, of struggle with the +wilderness, had produced a half-lawless and wholly self-assertive type of +man, as democratic as Jefferson himself, but with a perfect willingness +to fight and with a great respect for fighters. To these men, the +tameness with which the United States had submitted to insults and +plundering was growing to be unendurable. Plain masculine anger began to +obscure other considerations. + +These Western men, moreover, had a special cause for indignation with +England, {210} which was ignored by the sea-coast communities, in the +close connection which they firmly believed to exist between the British +administration of upper Canada and the north-western Indians. In the +years after 1809, the Indian question again began to assume a dangerous +form. Settlers were coming close to the treaty lines, and, to satisfy +their demands for the bottom lands along the Wabash River, Governor +Harrison of Indiana Territory made an extensive series of land purchases +from the small tribes on the coveted territory. + +But there now appeared two remarkable Indians, Tecumseh and his brother, +the Prophet, of the Shawnee tribe, who saw in the occupation of the red +men's hunting lands and the inroads of frontier corn whiskey the death of +all their race. These leaders began to hold their own tribe together +against the purchase of whiskey or the sale of lands; then, with wider +vision, they tried to organize an alliance of all the north-western +Indians to prevent further white advance. They even went so far as to +visit the south-western Indians, Creeks and Cherokees, to induce them to +join in the grand league. The very statesmanship involved in this vast +scheme rendered it dangerous in the eyes of all Westerners, who were +firmly convinced that the backing of {211} this plan came from the +British posts in Canada. There was, in reality, a good understanding +between the Canadian officers and the Shawnee chiefs. In 1811 +hostilities broke out at Tippecanoe, where Governor Harrison had a sharp +battle with the Shawnees; but Tecumseh exerted himself to restore +peaceful relations, although the frontier was in great excitement. + +From the States of Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, and from the inner +counties of the southern States there came to the first session of the +Eleventh Congress, in December, 1811, a group of young politicians--Henry +Clay, John Calhoun, Langdon Cheves, Felix Grundy--who felt that the time +for talk was at an end. Unless England immediately revoked its decrees, +ceased impressing seamen, and refrained from instigating Indian plots +there must be war. Assuming control of the House, with Clay in the +Speaker's chair, they transformed the Republican party and the policy of +the country. They pushed through measures for raising troops, arming +ships, and borrowing money. Congress rang with fiery speeches, as month +after month went by and the Perceval Ministry obstinately refused to stir +from its commercial policy. + +Yet the feeling of the English public was already undergoing a change. +By 1812 the {212} pretence that the Orders in Council were maintained for +the purpose of starving out France was growing transparent when thousands +of licences, granted freely to British vessels, permitted a vast fleet to +carry on the supposedly forbidden trade. Although Perceval and Canning +still insisted in Parliament that the Orders were retaliatory, the fact +was patent that their only serious effect was to cause the loss of the +American trade and the American market. At the threat of war, the +exporters of England, suffering severely from glutted markets, began a +vigorous agitation against Perceval's policy and bombarded the Ministry, +through Henry Brougham, with petitions, memorials, and motions which put +the Tories on the defensive. Speakers like Alexander Baring held up the +system of Orders in Council as riddled with corruption, and only the +personal authority of Perceval and Castlereagh kept the majority firm. +At the height of this contest, Perceval was assassinated, on May 11, +1812; and it was not until June 8 that hope of a new coalition was +abandoned, and the Tory Cabinet was definitely reorganized under Lord +Liverpool. Almost the first act of that Ministry was to bow before the +storm of petitions, criticisms, and complaints, and to announce on June +16 that they had decided to suspend the Orders. {213} Thus the very +contingency upon which Jefferson and Madison had counted came to pass. +The British government, at the instance of the importing and +manufacturing classes, yielded to the pressure of American commercial +restrictions. It was true that the danger of war weighed far more, +apparently, than the Non-intercourse Act; but had there been an Atlantic +cable, or even a steam transit, at that time, or had the Liverpool +Ministry been formed a little earlier, the years 1807-1812 might have +passed into history as a triumphant vindication of Jefferson's theories. + +But it was too late. Madison, seeing, apparently, that his plans were a +failure, fell in with the new majority, and after deliberate preparation +sent a message to Congress in June, 1812, which was practically an +invitation to declare war. In spite of the bitter opposition of all +Federalists and many eastern Republicans, Congress, by the votes of the +southern and western members, adopted a declaration of war on June 18, +committing the United States to a contest with the greatest naval power +in the world on the grounds of the Orders in Council, the impressment of +seamen, and the intrigues with the north-western Indians. At the moment +when Napoleon, invading Russia, began his last stroke for universal +empire, the United {214} States entered the game as his virtual ally. +This was something the Federalists could not forgive. They returned to +their homes, execrating the war as waged in behalf of the arch-enemy of +God and man, as the result of a pettifogging bit of trickery on the part +of Napoleon. They denounced the ambitions of Clay and the Westerners, +who predicted an easy conquest of Canada, as merely an expression of a +pirate's desire to plunder England of its colonies, and they announced +their purpose to do nothing to assist the unrighteous conflict. In their +anger at Madison, they were even willing to vote for De Witt Clinton of +New York, who ran for President in 1812 as an Independent Republican; and +the coalition carried the electoral vote of every State north of Maryland +except Pennsylvania and Vermont. + +When the news of the repeal of the Orders in Council crossed the +Atlantic, some efforts were made by the governor-general of Canada to +arrange an armistice, hoping to prevent hostilities. But Madison does +not seem to have seriously considered abandoning the war, even though the +original cause had been removed. Feeling the irresistible pressure of +the southern and western Democrats behind him, he announced that the +contest must go on until England should {215} abandon the practice of +impressment. So the last hope of peace disappeared. + +The war thus begun need never have taken place, had the Tory Ministries +of Portland or Perceval cared to avert it. The United States only lashed +itself into a war-like mood after repeated efforts to secure concessions, +and after years of submission to British rough handling. During all this +time, either Madison or Jefferson would gladly have accepted any sort of +compromise which did not shut American vessels wholly out from some form +of independent trade. But the enmity of the British shipowners and naval +leaders and the traditional British commercial policy joined with +contempt for the spiritless nation to prevent any such action until the +fitting time had gone by. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE WAR FOR "SAILORS' RIGHTS" AND WESTWARD EXPANSION, 1812-1815 + +The second war between the United States and the mother country, unlike +the first, was scarcely more than a minor {216} annoyance to the +stronger party. In the years 1812-1814, England was engaged in +maintaining an army in Spain, in preying on French commerce by blockade +and cruising, and was spending immense sums to subsidize the European +nations in their final struggle against Napoleon. The whole military +and financial strength of the country, the whole political and +diplomatic interest were absorbed in the tremendous European contest. +Whig and Tory, landowner, manufacturer, and labourer were united in +unbending determination to destroy the power of the Corsican. The +Liverpool Ministry contained little of talent, and no genius, but the +members possessed certain traits which sufficed to render others +unnecessary, namely, an unshakable tenacity and steady hatred of the +French. The whole country stood behind them on that score. + +In these circumstances, the English, when obliged to fight the United +States, were at liberty to send an overwhelming naval force to blockade +or destroy American commerce, but were in great straits to provide men +to defend Canada. It was not until a full year after the declaration +of war that any considerable force of regular troops could be collected +and sent there, and not for two years that anything approaching a +genuine army could be directed against America. {217} The defence of +Canada had to be left to the efforts of some few officers and men and +such local levies as could be assembled. + +On the side of the United States, the war was bound to take the form of +an effort to capture all or part of Canada, for that was the only +vulnerable British possession. On the sea the United States could hope +at most to damage British commerce by means of the few national +cruisers and such privateers as the shipowners of the country could +send out. Without a single ship-of-the-line and with only five +frigates, there existed no possibility of actually fighting the British +navy. But on land it seemed as though a country with a population of +over seven millions ought to be able to raise armies of such size as to +overrun, by mere numbers, the slender resources of Canada; and it was +the confident expectation of most of the western leaders that within a +short time the whole region would be in American hands. "The +acquisition of Canada this year," wrote Jefferson, "as far as the +neighbourhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will +give us experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and the final +expulsion of England from the American continent." + +Unfortunately for the success of these dreams, the policy of the +Republican administrations had been such as to set up {218} insuperable +difficulties. The regular army, reduced under Jefferson's "passion for +peace" to a bare minimum, was scattered in a few posts; the War +Department was without means for equipping, feeding, and transporting +bodies of troops; the whole mechanism of war administration had to be +created. Further, the Secretary of the Army and nearly all the +generals were elderly men, veterans of the Revolutionary Army, who had +lost whatever energy they once possessed. The problem of war finances +was rendered serious by the fact that revenue from the tariff, the sole +important source of income, was sure to be cut off by the British naval +power. The National Bank had been refused a new charter in 1811, and +the government, democratic in its finances as in other matters, relied +upon a hundred odd State banks of every degree of solvency for aid in +carrying on financial operations. + +The temper of the American people was exactly what it had been in +colonial days. They regarded war as a matter to be carried on at the +convenience of farmers and others, who were willing to serve in defence +of their homes, but strongly objected to enlisting for any length of +time. On the more pugnacious frontier, the prevailing military ideal +was that of the armed mob or crowd--a body of fighters following a +chosen leader against Indians. {219} Everywhere the elementary +conceptions of obedience and duty were unknown. The very men who +wished for war were unwilling to fight except on their own terms. + +Still more fatal to military efficiency was the fact that the +Federalists, and many of the northern Republicans, inhabiting the +regions abutting on Canada, were violently opposed to the war, wished +to see it fail, and were firmly resolved to do nothing to aid the +administration. The utmost the Federalists would do was to defend +themselves if attacked, but they would do that on their own +responsibility and not under federal orders. + +The only exception to this prevailing unmilitary condition was to be +found in the navy, where, through cruising and through actual service +against the Barbary corsairs, a genuinely trained body of officers and +men had been created. Unable to do more than give a good account of +themselves on the ocean in single combats, these officers found a +chance on the northern lakes to display a fighting power and skill +which is one of the few redeeming features of the war on the American +side. + +In 1812 hostilities began with a feeble attempt on the part of the +United States to invade Canada, an effort whose details are of interest +only in showing how impossible {220} it is for an essentially +unmilitary people to improvise warfare. Congress had authorized a +loan, the construction of vessels, and the enlistment of an army of +36,000 men; but the officers appointed to assemble a military force +found themselves unable, after months of recruiting and working, to +gather more than half that number of raw troops, with a fluctuating +body of State militia. With these rudiments of a military force, +attempts to "invade" Canada were made in three directions--from +Detroit, from the Niagara River, and from the northern end of Lake +Champlain. + +To meet these movements, there were actually less than 2,800 British +soldiers west of Montreal; but fortunately they were commanded by Isaac +Brock, an officer of daring and an aggressive temper. He at once +entered into alliance with Tecumseh and the western Indians, and thus +brought to the British assistance a force of hundreds of warriors along +the Ohio and Kentucky frontier. While General Hull, with about 2,000 +troops, mainly volunteers from the West, marched under orders to +Detroit and then, in July, invaded upper Canada, the outlying American +posts at Chicago and Mackinac were either captured or destroyed by the +Indians. Brock, gathering a handful of men, marched against Hull, +terrified him for the safety of {221} his communications with the +United States, forced the old man to retreat to Detroit, and finally, +by advancing boldly against the slight fortifications of the post, +frightened him into surrender. Hull had been set an impossible task, +to conquer upper Canada with no sure means of getting reinforcements or +supplies through a region swarming with Indians; but his conduct +indicated no spark of pugnacity, and his surrender caused the loss of +the entire north-west. Tecumseh and his warriors now advanced against +the Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio frontiers; and the nameless horrors of +Indian massacre and torture surged along the line of settlements. The +frontiersmen flew to arms. General Harrison, with a commission from +Kentucky, headed a large expedition to regain lost ground; but he only +succeeded in building forts in north-western Ohio and waging a +defensive war against the raids of Tecumseh and the British general, +Proctor, Brock's successor. + +At Niagara, no move was made until the late autumn, when two American +generals in succession--Van Rensselaer and Smyth--tried to lead a +motley array of militia and regulars across the river. Brock met the +first detachment and was killed in a skirmish, but his men were able to +annihilate the main attack, on the brink of the river, while several +thousand American militia, {222} refusing, on constitutional grounds, +to serve outside the jurisdiction of their state, watched safely from +the eastern bank. The second effort in November, under General Smyth, +proved an even worse fiasco. Meanwhile General Dearborn, the supreme +commander, tried to invade near Lake Champlain; but, after he had +marched his troops to the Canadian border, the militia refused to leave +the soil of the United States, and so the campaign had to be abandoned. +The military efforts of the United States were, as the Canadian +historian phrases it, "beneath criticism." + +The only redeeming feature of the year was the record of the little +American navy and the success of the privateers, who rushed to prey +upon British commerce. Upwards of two hundred British vessels were +captured, while all but about seventy American ships reached home +safely. The British sent squadrons of cruisers, but were unable to +begin a blockade. Their aim was to capture American men-of-war as +rapidly as possible, to prevent their doing damage, so they +unhesitatingly attacked American vessels whenever they met them, +regardless of slight differences in size or gun-power. The British +sea-captain of the day had a hearty contempt for Americans, and never +dreamed that their navy could be any more dangerous than the {223} +French. To the unlimited delight of the American public, and the +stupefaction of England, five American cruisers in succession captured +or sank five British in the autumn of 1812, utilizing superior weight +of broadside and more accurate gunnery with merciless severity. These +blows did no actual damage to a navy which comprised several hundred +frigates and sloops, but the moral effect was great. It had been +proved that Americans, after all, could fight. + +In 1813 there was a change in administrative officers. Doctor Eustis +was replaced in the War Department by John Armstrong, who had served in +the Revolution, and William Jones of Philadelphia succeeded Paul +Hamilton as Secretary of the Navy. Congress authorized more men, to +the number of 58,000, and more ships, and voted more loans. Finally, +in the summer it was actually driven to impose internal taxes like +those which, when imposed by Federalists, had savoured of tyranny. + +On the northern frontier, renewed efforts were made to collect a real +army, and, with late comprehension of the necessities of the case, +naval officers were sent to build flotillas to control Erie, Ontario, +and Champlain. On their part, the British Ministry sent out a few +troops and officers to Canada, but {224} relied this year chiefly upon +a strict blockade, which was proclaimed first in December, 1812, and +was extended, before the end of the year, to cover the entire coast, +except New England. Ships-of-the-line, frigates, and sloops patrolled +the entrances to all the seaports, terminating not only foreign but +coastwise commerce. + +Things went little if any better for the United States. The army was +on paper 58,000 men; but the people of the north and west would not +enlist. The utmost efforts at recruiting did not succeed in bringing +one-half the nominal force into the field. The people would not take +the war seriously, and the administration was helpless. To make +matters worse, not only did the north-western frontier agonize under +Indian warfare, but the south-west became involved, when, in August, +1813, the Creek Indians, affected by Tecumseh's influence, rose and +began a war in Tennessee and Georgia. For months Andrew Jackson, +General of Tennessee militia, with other local commanders, carried on +an exhausting and murderous conflict in the swamps and woods of the +south-west. The war was now assuming the character of the last stand +of the Indians before the oncoming whites. + +In the north-west, decisive blows were struck in this year by General +Harrison and {225} Commander Perry. The latter built a small fleet of +boats, carrying in all fifty-four guns, and sailed out to contest the +control of Lake Erie. Captain Barclay, the British commander, with +scantier resources, constructed a weaker fleet, with sixty-three +lighter guns, and gallantly awaited the Americans on September 9. In a +desperately fought battle, Perry's sloop, the _Lawrence_, was +practically destroyed by the concentrated fire of the British; but the +greater gun-power of the Americans told, and the entire British +flotilla was compelled to surrender. This enabled Harrison, who had +been waiting for months in his fortifications, to advance and pursue +Proctor into upper Canada. On October 5 he brought him to action near +the river Thames, winning a complete victory and killing Tecumseh. The +Americans then returned to Detroit, and the Indian war gradually +simmered down, until in August, 1814, the leading tribes made peace. +To the eastward no such decisive action took place. Sir James Yeo and +Commodore Chauncey, commanding the British and American vessels +respectively on Lake Ontario, were each unwilling to risk a battle +without a decisive superiority; and the result was that no serious +engagement occurred. This rendered it impossible for either side to +attain any military success in that region; and so the year 1813 {226} +shows only a succession of raids, a species of activity in which the +British proved much the more daring and efficient. During one of these +affairs, General Dearborn occupied the Canadian town of York, now +Toronto, and burned the public buildings--an act of needless +destruction for which the United States was destined to pay heavily. +Further eastward, General Wilkinson and General Hampton began a joint +invasion of lower Canada, Wilkinson leading a force of over 6,000 men +down the St. Lawrence, Hampton advancing with 4,000 from Lake Champlain +toward the same goal, Montreal. But at Chrystler's Farm, on November +11, the rearguard of Wilkinson's army suffered a thorough defeat at the +hands of a small pursuing force; and Hampton underwent a similar +repulse from an inferior body of French-Canadians under Colonel de +Salaberry, at Chateauguy, on October 25. Finally, Hampton, suspecting +that Armstrong and Wilkinson intended in case of any failure to throw +the blame on him, decided to withdraw, November 11, and Wilkinson +followed. The whole invasion came to an inglorious conclusion. + +At sea the uniform success of American cruisers came to a stop, for, +out of four naval duels, two were British victories, notably the taking +of the unlucky _Chesapeake_ by the {227} _Shannon_. Only where +privateers and sloops swept West Indian waters and hung about British +convoys was there much to satisfy American feelings; and all the while +the blockading squadrons cruised at their ease in Chesapeake and +Delaware bays and Long Island Sound. The country was now subjected to +increasing distress from the stoppage of all commerce; not only was the +Federal government sorely pinched from loss of tariff revenue, but the +New England towns suffered from starvation prices for food products, +while in the middle and southern States grain was used to feed the +cattle or allowed to rot. + +For the season of 1814, it was necessary again to try to build up +armies; and now the time was growing short during which the United +States could hope to draw advantage from the preoccupation of England +in the European struggle. During the winter of 1814, the final +crushing of Napoleon took place, ending with his abdication and the +restoration of the Bourbons. Simultaneously, the British campaign in +Spain was carried to its triumphant conclusion, and after April British +armies had no further European occupation. Unless peace were made, or +unless the United States gained such advantages in Canada as to render +the British ready to treat, it was practically certain that the {228} +summer would find the full power of the British army, as well as the +navy, in a position to be directed against the American frontier and +the American sea-coast. + +Congress, however, did nothing new. It authorized a loan, raised the +bounty for enlistments, voted a further increase of the army, and +adjourned. Armstrong, the Secretary of War, succeeded in replacing the +worn-out veterans who had mismanaged the campaigns of 1812-1813 with +fighting generals, younger men, such as Jacob Brown, Scott, Ripley, and +Jackson, the Indian fighter; but he could not induce men to enlist any +more freely, nor did he show any ability in planning operations. So +events dragged on much as before. + +On Lake Ontario, Chauncey and Yeo continued their cautious policy, +building vessels continually and never venturing out of port unless for +the moment in overwhelming force. The result was that first one then +the other controlled the lake; but they never met. The only serious +fighting took place near Niagara, where General Brown, with a little +force of 2,600 men, tried to invade Canada, and was met first by +General Riall, and later by General Drummond, with practically equal +forces. Here the Americans actually fought, and fought hard, winning a +slight success at Chippawa on July 5, and engaging {229} in a drawn +battle at Lundy's Lane on July 25. Later forced to take refuge in Fort +Erie, Brown made a successful defence against Drummond, and obliged him +to abandon an effort at siege. Here, as in the naval combats, the +military showing of the Americans was at last creditable; but the +campaign was on too trivial a scale to produce any results. In the +south-west this year, Jackson pushed through his attack on the Creeks +to a triumphant conclusion, and in spite of mutinous militia and +difficult forests compelled the Indians on August 9, 1814, to purchase +peace by large cessions of land. + +By the middle of the summer, however, the British were ready to lay a +heavy hand on the United States and punish the insolent country for its +annoying attack in the rear. New England was now subjected to the +blockade, and troops from Wellington's irresistible army were sent +across, some to the squadron in the Chesapeake, others to Canada, and +later still others in a well-equipped expedition to New Orleans to +conquer the mouth of the Mississippi. + +The Chesapeake squadron, after raiding and provisioning itself at the +expense of the Virginia and Maryland farmers, made a dash at +Washington, sending boats up the Patuxent and Potomac rivers, and +landing a body of about 2,000 men. On August 24, with absurd {230} +ease, this force scattered in swift panic a hasty collection of +militia, and entered Washington, sending the President and Cabinet +flying into the country. In retaliation for the damage done at York, +the British officers set fire to the capital and other public +buildings, before retreating swiftly to their ships. A similar attack +on Baltimore, September 11, was better met, and, although the British +routed a force of militia, the attempt to take the city was abandoned. +The humiliation of the capture of Washington led to the downfall of +Armstrong as Secretary of State, although not until after he had almost +ruined another campaign. + +While the British were threatening Washington, another force was +gathering north of Lake Champlain, and a large frigate was being built +to secure command of that lake. By the end of August, nearly 16,000 +men, most of them from Wellington's regiments, were assembled to invade +New York, probably with the intention of securing the permanent +occupation of the northern part. In the face of this, Armstrong sent +most of the American troops at Plattsburg on a useless march across New +York State, leaving a bare handful under General McComb to meet the +invasion. When Sir George Prevost, Governor-General of Canada, +advanced to Plattsburg on September 6, he found nothing {231} but +militia and volunteers before him. Fortunately for the United States, +Prevost was no fighter, and he declined to advance or attack unless he +had a naval control of the lake. On September 11 the decisive contest +took place. McDonough, the American commander, with a small squadron, +entirely defeated and captured the British flotilla under Downie. It +was Lake Erie over again, with the difference that in this battle the +American fleet was not superior to the British. It was a victory due +to better planning and better gunnery, and it led to the immediate +retreat of Prevost, who tamely abandoned the whole campaign, to the +intense mortification of his officers and men. The remaining +expedition, under General Pakenham, comprising 16,000 Peninsular +veterans, under convoy of a strong fleet, sailed to the Gulf of Mexico +and advanced to capture New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson was at +hand, and with him a mass of militia and frontiersmen. Driven by the +furious energy of the Indian fighter, the Americans showed +aggressiveness and courage in skirmishes and night attacks, and finally +won an astounding victory on January 8, 1815. On that day the British +force tried to storm, by frontal attack, a line of intrenchments armed +with cannon and packed with riflemen. In twenty-five minutes their +columns were so badly cut up by {232} grapeshot and musketry that the +whole attack was abandoned, after Pakenham himself had been killed. +The expedition withdrew, and sailing to Mobile, a town in Spanish +territory, occupied by the Americans, retook it on February 11; but the +main purpose of their invasion was foiled. + +In this year, while American land forces struggled to escape +destruction, the naval vessels were for the most part shut in by the +blockade. Occasional captures were still made in single combat; but +British frigates were now under orders to refuse battle with the larger +American vessels, and the captures by sloops were counterbalanced by +the British capture of the frigate _Essex_ by two antagonists in March, +1814. Practically the only extensive operations carried on were by +American privateers, who now haunted the British Channel and captured +merchantmen within sight of the English coasts. The irritation caused +by these privateers was excessive, and made British shipowners and +merchants anxious for peace; but it had no effect on the military +situation. England was not to be subdued by mere annoyance. + +By the end of 1814, the time seemed to be at hand when the United +States must submit to peace on such terms as England chose to dictate, +or risk disruption and ruin. The administrative weaknesses of the +country {233} culminated in actual financial bankruptcy, which was due +in no small part to the fact that Federalist financiers and bankers, +determining to do all the damage possible, steadily refused to +subscribe to the loans or to give any assistance. The powerful New +England capital was entirely withheld. The result was that the strain +on the rest of the banks became too great; and after the capture of +Washington they all suspended specie payment, leaving the Government +only the notes of suspended banks, or its own depreciated treasury +notes for currency. All the coin in the country steadily flowed into +the vaults of New England banks, while the Federal Treasury was +compelled, on November 9, 1814, to admit its inability to pay interest +on its loans. Congress met in the autumn and endeavoured to remedy the +situation by chartering a bank; but under the general suspension of +specie payments it was impossible to start one solvent from the +beginning. When Congress authorized one without power to suspend +specie payments, Madison vetoed it as useless. All that could be done +was to issue more treasury notes. As for the army, a Bill for +compulsory service was brought in, showing the enormous change in +Republican ideals; but it failed to pass. Congress seemed helpless. +The American people would neither enlist for the war nor {234} +authorize their representatives to pass genuine war measures. + +The Federalists, controlling most of the New England States, now felt +that the time had come to insist on a termination of their grievances. +Their governors had refused to allow militia to assist, their +legislatures had done nothing to aid the war; their capitalists had +declined to subscribe, and their farmers habitually sold provisions to +the British over the Canadian boundary, actually supplying Sir George +Prevost's army by contract. There met, at Hartford, on December 14, +1814, a convention of leading men, officially or unofficially +representing the five New England States, who agreed upon a document +which was intended to secure the special rights of their region. They +demanded amendments to the Constitution abolishing the reckoning of +slaves as basis for congressional representation, providing for the +partial distribution of government revenues among the States, +prohibiting embargoes or commercial warfare, or the election of +successive Presidents from the same State, and requiring a two-thirds +vote of Congress to admit new States or declare war. This was meant +for an ultimatum; and it was generally understood that, if the Federal +government did not submit to these terms, the New England States would +secede to {235} rid themselves of what they considered the intolerable +oppression of Virginian misgovernment. + +Such was the state of things in the winter of 1815. The administration +of Madison had utterly failed to secure any of the ends of the war, to +inflict punishment on Great Britain, or to conquer Canada. It had also +utterly failed to maintain financial solvency, to enlist an army, to +create a navy capable of keeping the sea, or to prevent a movement in +New England which seemed to be on the verge of breaking the country +into pieces. But to lay this miserable failure--for such only can it +be called--to the personal discredit of Jefferson and Madison is +unfair, for it was only the repetition under new governmental +conditions of the old traditional colonial method of carrying on war as +a local matter. The French and Indian War, the Revolution, and the War +of 1812, repeated in different generations the same tale of amateur +warfare, of the occasional success and usual worthlessness of the +militia, the same administrative inefficiency, and the same financial +breakdown. Without authority and obedience, there can be carried on no +real war; and authority and obedience were no more known and no better +appreciated in 1812 than they had been in the days of Washington. +Jefferson, Madison, {236} and their party had gone with the current of +American tradition; that was their only fault. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +END OF THE ANTAGONISM: A CENTURY OF PEACE + +When the American war began, the English showed a tendency to blame the +Tory administration for permitting it to take place; but the chief +feeling, after all, was one of annoyance at Madison and his party for +having decided to give their assistance to Napoleon at the crisis of +his career. The intercourse between Englishmen and New England +Federalists had given British society its understanding of American +politics and coloured its natural irritation toward the Republican +administration with something of the deeper venom of the outraged New +Englanders, who saw in Jefferson and his successors a race of +half-Jacobins. During 1812 and 1813, accordingly, newspapers and +ministerial speakers, when they referred to the contest, generally +spoke of the necessity of {237} chastising an impudent and presumptuous +antagonist. A friendly party such as had defended the colonists during +the Revolution no longer existed, for the Whigs, however antagonistic +to the Liverpool Ministry, were fully as firmly committed to +maintaining British naval and commercial supremacy. + +England's chief continental ally, however, the Tsar Alexander, +considered the American war an unfortunate blunder; and, as early as +September, 1812, he offered his mediation through young John Quincy +Adams, Minister at St. Petersburg. The news reached America in March, +1813, and Madison revealed his willingness to withdraw from a contest +already shown to be unprofitable by immediately accepting and +nominating Adams, with Bayard and Gallatin, to serve as peace +commissioners. Without waiting to hear from England, these envoys +started for Russia, but reached there only to meet an official refusal +on the part of England, dated July 5, 1813. The Liverpool Ministry did +not wish to have the American war brought within the range of European +consideration, since its settlement under such circumstances might +raise questions of neutral rights which would be safer out of the hands +of a Tsar whose predecessors had framed armed neutralities in 1780 and +1801. Accordingly, the British government intimated politely that +{238} it would be willing to deal directly with the United States, and +thus waved the unwelcome Russian mediation aside. Madison accepted +this offer in March, 1814; but, although the American commissioners +endeavoured through Alexander Baring, their friend and defender in +Parliament, to get the British government to appoint a time and place +for meeting, they encountered continued delays. + +A considerable element in the Tory party felt that the time had come to +inflict a severe punishment upon the United States, and newspapers and +speakers of that connection announced freely that only by large +concessions of territory could the contemptible republic purchase +peace. When the Ministry finally sent commissioners to Ghent, on +August 8, 1814, it was not with any expectation of coming to a prompt +agreement, but merely to engage the Americans while the various +expeditions then under way took Washington and Baltimore, occupied +northern New York, and captured New Orleans. It was generally expected +that a few months would find large portions of the United States in +British possession, as was in fact the sea-coast of Maine, east of +Penobscot Bay, after September first. + +The instructions to the British peace commissioners were based on the +_uti possedetis_, {239} as the British government intended it to be by +the end of the year, when they expected to hold half of Maine, the +northern parts of New York, New Hampshire and Vermont, the +north-western post of Mackinnac, and possibly New Orleans and Mobile. +In addition, there was to be an Indian territory established under +British guarantee west of the old treaty line of 1795, and all American +fishing rights were to be terminated. On the other side, the American +instructions, while hinting that England would do well to cede Canada, +made the abandonment of the alleged right of impressments by England a +_sine quâ non_. Clearly no agreement between such points of view was +possible; and the outcome of the negotiation was bound to depend on the +course of events in the United States. The first interviews resulted +in revealing that part of the British instructions related to the +Indian territory with intimations of coming demands for territorial +cessions. This the Americans instantly rejected on August 25, and the +negotiation came to a standstill for several weeks. + +The three British negotiators, Admiral Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and +Doctor Adams were men of slight political or personal authority, and +their part consisted chiefly in repeating their instructions and +referring American replies back to Lord Castlereagh, {240} the Foreign +Secretary, or to Lord Bathurst, who acted as his substitute while he +attended the Congress of Vienna. The American commissioners, including +the three original ones, Adams, Bayard, and Gallatin, to whom Clay and +Russell of Massachusetts were now added, clearly understood the +situation, and had already warned Madison that an insistence on the +abandonment of impressments would result in the failure to secure any +treaty. In October, 1814, a despatch yielded this point and left the +negotiators to make the best fight they could, unhampered by positive +instructions. Undoubtedly they would have been compelled to submit to +hard terms, in spite of their personal ability, which stood exceedingly +high, had not news of the repulse at Baltimore, of the treaty of July, +1814, by which the north-western Indians agreed to fight the English, +and, on October 17, of the retreat of Sir George Prevost after the +defeat of Plattsburg, come in to change the situation. + +Between August and October little had been accomplished, during a slow +interchange of notes, beyond a withdrawal by the British of their +demand for an Indian territory, and an acceptance in its place of an +agreement to include the Indians in a general peace. Then the Cabinet, +seeing that after Prevost's retreat they could no longer claim the +{241} territory outlined in the first instructions, authorized the +negotiators to demand only Mackinac and Niagara, with a right of way +across Maine. The Americans, encouraged by the news from Plattsburg, +replied on October 23, refusing to treat on the _uti possedetis_, or on +any terms but the _status quo ante_. This brought the Tory government +face to face with the question whether the war was to be continued for +another year for the purpose of conquering a frontier for Canada; and, +before the prospect of continued war taxation, annoyance from +privateers, and a doubtful outcome, they hesitated. Turning to +Wellington for a decision, they asked him whether he would accept the +command in America for the purpose of conquering a peace. His reply +showed little interest or desire to go, although he seemed confident of +success; but he observed that, on the basis of the military situation, +they had no right to demand any territorial cession. + +The Ministry then, on November 18, definitely abandoned the claim for +compensation, and accepted as a basis for discussion a plan submitted +by the American commissioners. In the preparation of this a sharp +quarrel had broken out between Clay, who insisted on terminating the +British right to navigate the Mississippi, and Adams, who {242} +demanded the retention of the American right to fish in Canadian +waters. Gallatin pointed out that the two privileges stood together, +and with great difficulty he induced the two men to agree to the +omission of both matters from the treaty, although Clay refused until +the last to sign. So the commission presented a united front in +offering to renew both rights or postpone them for discussion; and the +British commissioners finally accepted the latter alternative. The +treaty was then signed in the old Carthusian Convent at Ghent, on +December 24, 1814, as a simple cessation of hostilities and return to +the _status quo ante_ as regards conquests. Not a word related to any +of the numerous causes of the war. Impressments, blockades, Orders in +Council, the Indian relations, the West Indian trade rights,--all were +abandoned. So far as the United States was concerned the treaty was an +acknowledgment of defeat, a recognition that the war was a failure. + +In view of the hopes of Canadian gains, the treaty was denounced in +England by the Opposition journals and many of those most antagonistic +to America as a cowardly surrender. But it was none the less heartily +accepted by both peoples and both governments. It reached the United +States on February 11, was sent to the Senate on February 15, and +ratified unanimously the next day. There {243} still remained various +vessels at sea, and so the winter of 1815 saw not only the amazing +victory of Jackson at New Orleans, but also several naval actions, in +which the United States frigate _President_ was taken by a squadron of +British blockades, two American sloops in duels took two British +smaller vessels, and the American _Constitution_, in a night action, +captured, together, two British sloops. Then the news spread, and +peace finally arrived in fact. + +In England, the whole affair was quickly forgotten in the tremendous +excitement caused by the return of Napoleon from Elba, the uprising of +Europe, and the dramatic meeting of the two great captains, Wellington +and Napoleon, in the Waterloo campaign. By the time the Napoleonic +Empire had finally collapsed, the story of the American war, with its +maritime losses and scanty land triumphs, was an old one, and the +British exporters, rushing to regain their former markets, were happy +in the prospect of the reopening of American ports. By October, trade +relations were re-established and the solid intercourse of the two +countries was under way. + +In America all disgraces and defeats were forgotten in the memories of +New Orleans, Plattsburg, and Chippawa, and the people at large, willing +to forgive all its failures to the {244} Republican administration, +resumed with entire contentment the occupations of peace. The war +fabric melted like a cloud; armies were disbanded, vessels were called +home, credit rose, prices sprang upward, importations swelled, +exportation began. + +In truth, the time of antagonism was at an end, for, with the European +peace of 1814, the immediate cause for irritation was removed, never to +return. The whole structure of blockades, Orders in Council, seizures, +and restrictions upon neutrals vanished; the necessity for British +impressments ceased to exist; and, since France never again came into +hostility with England, none of these grievances were revived. But in +a broader way the year 1815 and the decades following marked the end of +national hostility, for the fundamental antagonisms which, since 1763, +had repeatedly brought about irritation and conflict, began after this +time to die out. + +In the first place, the defeat of the Indians in the war allowed the +people of the United States to advance unchecked into the north-west +and south-west, filling the old Indian lands, and rendering any +continuation of the restrictive diplomacy on the part of England for +the benefit of Canadian fur traders patently futile. The war was no +sooner ended than roads, trails, and rivers swarmed {245} with +westward-moving emigrants; and within a year the territory of Indiana, +which the British commissioners at Ghent had wished to establish as an +Indian reserve, was framing a State constitution. In 1819 Illinois +followed. + +The revulsion of temper was illustrated in the commencement at this +time of the organized movement for settled international peace, which +may be dated from the establishment of the New York and Massachusetts +Peace Societies in 1815, and the London Peace Society in the following +year. But its most signal expression came in the remarkable agreement +by which the Canadian-American frontier has been, for nearly a century, +unfortified, and yet completely peaceful. On November 16, 1815, State +Secretary Monroe instructed Adams to propose to the British Government +that--as, "if each party augments its force there with a view to +obtaining the ascendancy over the other, vast expense will be incurred +and the danger of collision augmented in like degree"--such military +preparations should be suspended on both sides. The smaller the number +of the armed forces agreed upon, he said, the better; "or to abstain +altogether from an armed force beyond that used for the revenue." +After some suspicious hesitation, Lord Castlereagh accepted this novel +proposal; and it was {246} given effect to by an exchange of notes, +signed by Mr. Bagot, British Minister at Washington, and Mr. Rush +(Monroe's successor) on April 28 and 29, 1817, approved by the Senate a +year later, and proclaimed by the President on April 28, 1818. By +Rush-Bagot Agreement, the naval force of each Government was limited to +one small gun-boat of each power on Champlain and Ontario, and two on +the upper lakes, an arrangement of immense value to both Canada and the +United States. + +The old-time commercial antagonism was also destined to disappear in a +few years after the close of the war. At first England clung to the +time-honoured West Indian policy, and, when in 1815 the two countries +adjusted their commercial relations, American vessels were still +excluded, although given the right to trade directly with the East +Indies. But already the new economic thought, which regarded +competition and reciprocal trade as the ideal, instead of legal +discriminations and universal protectionism, was gaining ground, as +England became more and more the manufacturing centre of the world. +Under Huskisson, in 1825, reciprocity was definitely substituted for +exclusion; and a few years later, under Peel and Russell, and within +the lifetime of men who had maintained the Orders in Council, the whole +{247} elaborate system of laws backed by the logic of Lord Sheffield +and James Stephen was cast away and fell into disrepute and oblivion. + +In America, it should be added, the rush of settlers into the West and +the starting of manufactures served, within a few years from the end of +the War of 1812, to alter largely the former dependence of the United +States upon foreign commerce. By the time that England was ready to +abandon its restrictive policy, the United States was beginning to be a +manufacturing nation with its chief wealth in its great internal trade, +and the ancient interest in the West Indies was fast falling into +insignificance. The same men who raged against the Jay treaty and the +Orders in Council lived to forget that they had ever considered the +West India trade important. So, on both sides, the end of commercial +antagonism was soon to follow on the Treaty of Ghent. + +Finally, and more slowly, the original political and social antagonism +ceased to be active, and ultimately died out. So far as the United +States was concerned, the change was scarcely visible until +three-quarters of a century after the Treaty of Ghent. The temper of +the American people, formed by Revolutionary traditions and nourished +on memories of battle and injuries, remained {248} steadily +antagonistic toward England; and the triumph of western social ideals +served to emphasize the distinction between the American democrat and +the British aristocrat, until dislike became a tradition and a +political and literary convention. But the emptiness of this normal +national hatred of John Bull was shown in 1898, when, at the first +distinct sign of friendliness on the part of the British government and +people, the whole American anglophobia vanished, and the people of the +continent realized that the time had come for a recognition of the +essential and normal harmony of the ancient enemies. + +In England, the change began somewhat earlier, for within less than a +generation after the Treaty of Ghent the exclusive Tory control +collapsed, and the Revolution of 1832 gave the middle classes a share +of political power. A few years later the Radicals, representing the +working-men, became a distinct force in Parliament, and to middle class +and Radicals there was nothing abhorrent in the American Republic. +Aristocratic society continued, of course, as in the eighteenth +century, to regard the United States with scant respect, and those +members of the upper middle classes who took their social tone from the +aristocracy commonly reflected their prejudices. But the masses of +{249} the British people--whose relatives emigrated steadily to the +western land of promise--felt a genuine sympathy and interest in the +success of the great democratic experiment, a sympathy which was far +deeper and more effective than had been that of the eighteenth-century +Whigs. From the moment that these classes made their weight felt in +government, the time was at hand when the old social antagonism was to +die out, and with it the deep political antipathy which, since the days +of 1793, had tinged the official British opinion of a democratic state. +The last evidence of the Tory point of view came when, in 1861, the +American Civil War brought out the unconcealed aversion of the British +nobility and aristocracy for the northern democracy; but on the +occasion the equally unconcealed sense of political and social sympathy +manifested by the British middle and working classes served to prevent +any danger to the United States, and to keep England from aiding in the +disruption of the Union. + +Thus the Treaty of Ghent, marking the removal of immediate causes of +irritation, was the beginning of a period in which the under-lying +elements of antagonism between England and the United States were +definitely to cease. When every discount is made, the celebration, +heartily supported by the national leaders on {250} both sides, of a +century of peace between the British, Canadian, and American peoples, +does exhibit, in Sir Wilfred Laurier's words, "a spectacle to astound +the world by its novelty and grandeur." + + + + +{251} + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +The references to the epoch covered in this volume may be rather +sharply divided into those which deal with the years before 1783, and +those which relate to the subsequent period. In the first group, there +are both British and American works of high excellence, but in the +second there are practically none but American authorities, owing to +the preoccupation of British writers with the more dramatic and +important French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, of the events of +parliamentary politics. + +For the years 1763-1783 the best American history is E. CHANNING, +_History of the United States_, vol. iii (1912), distinctly +independent, thorough, and impartial. S. G. FISHER, _The Struggle for +American Independence_, 2 vols. (1908), is cynically critical and +unconventional. Three volumes of the _American Nation_ series,--G. E. +HOWARD, _Preliminaries of the Revolution_; C. H. VAN TYNE, _The +American Revolution_; and A. C. McLAUGHLIN, _The Confederation and the +Constitution_ (1905), are equally scholarly and less detailed. The +older American works, exhibiting the traditional "patriotic" view, are +best represented by J. FISKE, _American Revolution_, 2 vols. (1891); +and G. BANCROFT, _History of the United States_, 6 vols. (ed. +1883-1885). + +On the English side the most valuable study is in W. E. H. LECKY, +_England in the Eighteenth Century_, vols. iii, iv (1878), a +penetrating and impartial analysis. The Whig view appears in SIR G. O. +TREVELYAN, _The American Revolution_, 3 vols. (1899-1907); LORD MAHON, +_England in the Eighteenth Century_, vols. v-vii (1853-1854); and M. +MARKS, _England and America_, 2 vols. (1907), while W. HUNT, _Political +History_, 1760-1801 (1905), alone of recent writers, presents a Tory +version of events. + +Special works of value are C. STEDMAN, _The American War_, 2 vols. +(1794), the authoritative English contemporary account of military +events, and, among recent studies, J. W. FORTESCUE, _History of the +British Army_, vol. iii (1902), which should be compared with H. B. +CARRINGTON, _Battles of the Revolution_ (1876); E. MCCRADY, _South +Carolina in the Revolution_, 2 vols. (1901-2); E. J. LOWELL, _The +Hessians in the {252} Revolution_ (1884); J. B. PERKINS, _France in the +American Revolution_ (1911); C. H. VAN TYNE, _The Loyalists_ (1902), +and W. HERTZ, _The Old Colonial System_ (1905). Of especial value are +the destructive criticisms in C. F. ADAMS, _Studies Military and +Diplomatic_ (1911). The authoritative treatment of naval history is +found in A. T. MAHAN, _Influence of Sea Power_ (1890), and in the +chapter by the same writer in W. L. CLOWES, _History of the Royal +Navy_, vols. iii, iv (1898-1899). + +Among leading biographies are those of Washington by H. C. LODGE (2 +vols. 1890), by W. C. FORD (2 vols. 1900), and by GEN. B. T. JOHNSON +(1894); of Franklin by J. PARTON (2 vols. 1864), by J. BIGELOW (3 vols. +1874), and by J. T. MORSE (1889); of Henry by M. C. TYLER (1887); of +Samuel Adams by J. K. HOSMER (1885); of Robert Morris by E. P. +OBERHOLZER (1903), and of Steuben by F. KAPP (1869). On the English +side the _Memoirs of Horace Walpole_ (1848); the _Correspondence of +George III with Lord North_, ed. by W. B. DONNE (1867), are valuable +and interesting, and some material may be found in the lives of Burke +by T. McNIGHT (2 vols. 1858); of Shelburne by E. G. FITZMAURICE (2 +vols. 1875); of Chatham by F. HARRISON (1905) and A. VON RUVILLE (3 +vols. 1907); and of Fox by LORD JOHN RUSSELL (3 vols. 1859). The +biographies of two governors of Massachusetts, C. A. POWNALL, _Thomas +Pownall_ (1908), and J. K. HOSMER, _Thomas Hutchinson_ (1896), are of +value as presenting the colonial Tory point of view. + +For the period after 1783, the best reference book and the only one +which attempts to trace in detail the motives of British as well as +American statesmen is HENRY ADAMS, _History of the United States_, 9 +vols. (1891). It is impartially critical, in a style of sustained and +caustic vivacity. Almost equally valuable is A. T. MAHAN, _Sea Power +in Relation to the War of 1812_, 2 vols. (1905), which contains the +only sympathetic analysis of British naval and commercial policy, +1783-1812, beside being the authoritative work on naval events. The +standard American works are J. SCHOULER, _History of the United +States_, vols. i, ii (1882); J. B. MCMASTER, _History of the People of +the United States_, vols. i-iv (1883-1895); R. HILDRETH, _History of +the United States_, vols. ii-vi (1849-1862), and three volumes of the +_American Nation Series_, J. S. BASSETT, _The Federalist System_; E. +CHANNING, _The Jeffersonian System_, and K. C. BABCOCK, _Rise of +American Nationality_ (1906). On the English side there is little in +the general histories beyond a chapter on American relations in A. +ALISON, _Modern Europe_, vol. iv (1848), which accurately represents +the extreme Tory contempt for the United States, but has no other +merit. Works on Canadian history fill this {253} gap to a certain +extent, such as W. KINGSFORD, _History of Canada_, vol. viii (1895). + +Beside the work of Mahan (as above) the War of 1812 is dealt with by W. +JAMES, _Naval History of Great Britain_, vols. v-vi (1823), a work of +accuracy as to British facts, but of violent anti-American temper; and +on the other side by J. F. COOPER, _Naval History_ (1856), and T. +ROOSEVELT, _Naval War of 1812_ (1883). Sundry special works dealing +with economic and social questions involved in international relations +are T. ROOSEVELT, _Winning of the West_, 4 vols. (1899-1902); W. +CUNNINGHAM, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, vol. iii (1893), +and W. SMART, _Economic Annals of the Nineteenth Century_ (1910). +Biographical material is to be found, in the lives of Washington (as +above); of Jefferson by J. SCHOULER, (1897), and by J. T. MORSE (1883); +of Hamilton by J. T. MORSE (1882), and F. S. OLIVER (1907); of Gallatin +by H. ADAMS (1879); of Madison by G. HUNT (1903); of Josiah Quincy by +E. QUINCY (1869). There is some biographical material to be found in +BROUGHAM'S _Life and Times of Lord Brougham_, vol. iii (1872), and in +S. WALPOLE, _Life of Spencer Perceval_, 2 vols. (1874), but for the +most part the British version of relations with America after 1783 is +still to be discovered only in the contemporary sources such as the +_Parliamentary History_ and _Debates_, the _Annual Register_, and the +partly published papers of such leaders as Pitt, Fox, Grenville, +Canning, Castlereagh and Perceval. + +A useful sketch, giving prominence to the Treaty of Ghent and the +Rush-Bagot Agreement, and summarizing earlier and later events, is _A +Short History of Anglo-American Relations and of the Hundred Years' +Peace_, by H. S. PERRIS. + +Documents and other contemporary material for the whole period may be +conveniently found in W. MACDONALD, _Select Charters_ (1904) and +_Select Documents_ (1898); in G. CALLENDER, _Economic History of the +United States_ (1909), and A. B. HART, _American History told by +Contemporaries_, vols. ii, iii (1898, 1901). + + + + + {254} + + INDEX + + Adams, John, in Revolution, 48, 57, 63, 71, 118-125; + after 1783, 142, 147, 155, 173-180 + Adams, John Quincy, 237-241 + Adams, Samuel, 32, 42, 50, 57, 63, 78, 131, 144 + Adet, P. A., 172, 173 + Alexander I, 190, 237 + Alien and Sedition Acts, 176-180 + Anti-Federalists, 143, 147 + Armstrong, John, 223-230 + Arnold, Benedict, 67, 81, 85, 104 + + Baltimore, 84, 230, 238, 240 + Bank of the United States, 145, 146, 183, 218 + Banks, State, 218, 233 + Baring, Alexander, 212, 238 + Bayard, James A., 237, 240 + Beaumarchais, Caron de, 94 + Bedford, Duke of, 40 + Bonaparte, Napoleon, 179, 184-186, 189-198, 202-208, 213-216, + 227, 236, 243 + Brock, General Isaac, 220, 221 + Brougham, Henry, 212 + Brown, General Jacob, 228, 229 + Bunker Hill, Battle of, 65, 66, 78, 83 + Burgoyne, General John, 89-95, 113, 114 + Burke, Edmund, 52, 60, 68, 73, 74, 96, 115, 116, 161, 165 + Burr, Aaron, 179, 180 + + Camden, Battle of, 103 + Canada, British policy in, 29, 54, 67, 73, 81, 85, 100, + 119, 122, 127, 155, 158, 200, 210, 211; + defence of, 214-229, 239, 241, 244, 245 + Canning, George, 197, 202, 204, 205, 207, 212 + Carleton, General Guy, 81, 85, 158 + Chauncey, Commodore Isaac, 225, 228 + Clark, George Rogers, 101, 105 + Clay, Henry, 211, 214, 240, 241 + Clinton, De Witt, 214 + Clinton, George, 147, 169 + Clinton, Sir Henry, 82, 100-103, 109-113 + Concord, Battle of, 62, 78 + Confederation, Articles of, 105, 129-136 + Congress, Continental, 56, 57, 60, 63, 64, 71, 79, 80, 84, + 88-93, 98, 105, 118, 130 + Congress of the Confederation, + 107, 124, 125, 127, 130-138, 142, 157 + Congress, United States, under Federalists, 140-146, 155, 164, + 173, 175, 177; under Republicans, 182, 186, 187, 195, + 199-209, 211, 213, 220, 223, 228, 233, 234 + Constitution, United States, 139-141, 159, 180, 183, 234 + Cornwallis, Lord, 86, 103-114 + + Dartmouth, Earl of, 47, 50 + Declaration of Independence, 71, 98 + De Grasse, Admiral, 110-112, 125 + D'Estaing, Admiral, 100-102 + Dickinson, John, 42, 50, 57, 64, 105 + + Elections, Presidential, 142, 147, 178, 178-180, 187, 201, 214 + Erie, Lake, Battle of, 225 + Erskine, David M., 204, 205 + + Fauchet, J. A., 163, 172 + Finances, of Revolution, 16, 64, 106, 123, 124, 133-135, + 144-146, 182, 191, 218-220, 228, 233 + Fox, Charles James, 96, 115-121, 152, 153, 165, 193 + Franklin, Benjamin, in England, 38, 44, 51, 52, 64; + in France, 71, 83, 93-95, 107, 118-124 + + Cage, General Thomas, 58, 61, 65 + Gallatin, Albert, 182, 237, 240, 242 + Gates, General Horatio, 79, 90, 91, 93, 103 + Genet, Edmond C., 161-163 + Germaine, Lord George, 53, 76, 77, 88, 115 + Governors, Colonial, 15-17, 26, 27, 44, 62, 72 + Grafton, Duke of, 39, 40, 47 + Greene, General Nathaniel, 79, 84, 104, 109 + Grenville, George, 28, 30, 31, 35, 45, 53 + Grenville, William, Lord, 165, 166, 171, 193, 194, 198, 203 + + Hamilton, Alexander, 132, 135, 144-148, 162, 164, 168, 177, + 179, 180, 188 + Harrison, General W. H., 210, 211, 221-225 + Hartford Convention, 234 + Henry, Patrick, 32, 42, 50, 57, 78, 131, 144 + Hillsborough, Lord, 43-53 + Howe, Admiral, 82, 83, 100, 114 + Howe, General Sir William, 82-92, 95, 113, 114 + Hull, General William, 220 + Hutchinson, Governor Thomas, 49, 52 + + Indians, of Northwest, 29, 100, 157-159, 164, 168, 209-213, + 218-225, 239, 244, 245 + Indians, Southwestern, 157, 210, 224, 229 + + Jackson, Andrew, 224, 228, 229, 231, 243 + Jay, John, 42, 57, 118, 120-125, 156, 157, 165-167, 171 + Jefferson, Thomas, 71, 78, 144, 146, 147, 156, 161, 169, + 172, 178, 180, 181-188, 193-196, 199-203, 209, 213, 215, + 217, 235, 236 + + King's Mountain, Battle of, 104 + + Lafayette, Marquis de, 102 + Lee, General Charles, 79, 84, 99 + Lee, Richard Henry, 57, 144 + Livingston, Robert R., 125, 186 + Long Island, Battle of, 83 + Louis XVI, 93, 95, 156 + + Madison, James, 132, 135, 142, 144, 146, 147, 163, 164, 172, + 178, 193, 201-208, 213-215, 230, 233-238, 240 + Ministries, British, Bute, 35, 40; + Grenville, 28, 35, 43; + First Rockingham, 36, 39; + Grafton, 39-45, + North, 47-56, 60, 68-77, 88, 95-98, 114-117, 151; + Second Rockingham, 117, 120; + Shelburne, 120-123, 126, 152-154; + Coalition, 126, 153, 154; + Pitt, 152-154, 159, 162-167, 171; + Addington, 171; + Second Pitt, 171, 192, 193; + Lord Grenville, 193, 196, 197; + Portland, 197, 202, 207; + Perceval, 207, 211-215; + Liverpool, 212, 213, 237-241 + Monroe, James, 172, 173, 186, 196 + Montgomery, General Richard, 67, 79 + Morgan, Daniel, 67, 68, 90, 104 + Morris, Robert, 78, 107, 134 + + Navigation Acts, 22-25, 29, 38, 55, 72, 132, 150, 155 + Non-importation Act, 196-200 + Non-intercourse Act, 202, 206, 213 + North, Lord, Tory leader, 43-56, 60, 61, 73-76; + in Revolutionary war, 77, 97, 115-117, 153 + + Oswald, Richard, 119-121 + Otis, James, 27, 32 + + Perceval, Spencer, 197, 207, 212 + Perry, Commander O. H., 225 + Pinckney, C. C., 173, 174 + Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 9, 36, 38-40, 53, 60, 96-98 + Pitt, William, 144, 148, 152-154, 171, 176, 189, 192 + Pownall, Thomas, 41, 47, 53 + Prevost, Sir George, 230, 231, 234 + Proclamation of 1763, 29, 122 + Proctor, Colonel Henry, 221, 225 + + Quebec Act, 54, 56 + + Randolph, Edmund, 163, 164, 172 + Representatives, House of, 164, 180, 211 + Rochambeau, Comte de, 102, 110, 113 + Rockingham, Marquis of, 117, 120 + Rutledge, John, 57, 78, 83 + + St. Clair, General Arthur, 159 + St. Leger, Colonel B., 90 + Sandwich, Earl of, 53, 68, 76, 77, 99, 115 + Saratoga, Surrender at, 92 + Scott, Sir William, 193 + Secession, 188, 201, 234, 235 + Sedition Act, 176-178, 180 + Shays' Rebellion, 137 + Sheffield, Lord, 150, 151, 154, 192, 197, 247 + Shelburne, Earl of, 117, 119-123, 152-154 + Sherman, Roger, 78, 135 + Stamp Act, 30-33, 200 + States Rights, 146, 178, 234 + Stephen, James, 192, 197, 207, 247 + Sugar Act, 25, 29, 31 + + Talleyrand, 175, 177 + Tarleton, Colonel B., 103, 110 + Tecumseh, 210, 211, 220, 221, 224, 225 + Townshend, Charles, 40-43 + Townshend Duties, 40-47, 210 + Treaties, 1763, 9, 28; + 1778, 95, 98; + 1783, 117-127, 149-152, 158; + 1794, 165-172, 193, 196; + 1795, 168, 184; 1803, 186; + 1814, 242; + 1818, 244 + Trenton, Battle of, 86, 112 + + Vergennes, Comte de, 93-96, 119-125 + + Washington, George, Commander, + 42, 57, 64, 66, 79, 83-93, 99, 100, 107-112, 126; + in retirement, 132, 134; + President, 142, 144, 146, 147, 159, 162, 164, 167, + 172-174, 178 + Wayne, General Anthony, 79, 159, 164 + Wellington, Duke of, 241, 243 + West Indies, British, before 1783, 9, 21-27, 99, 102, 108, + 110, 112, 125; + after 1783, 132, 149-151, 166, 167, 246, 247 + West Indies, French, trade with, 25, 27, 31, 156, 163, + 167, 191-193, 196 + Wilkes, John, 44, 45 + Wilkinson, General James, 226 + + X. Y. Z. affair, 174, 175 + + Yorktown, Surrender at, 112, 160, 160 + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wars Between England and America, by +T. C. Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WARS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA *** + +***** This file should be named 21276-8.txt or 21276-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/7/21276/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/21276-8.zip b/21276-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f678880 --- /dev/null +++ b/21276-8.zip diff --git a/21276.txt b/21276.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..552d9d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/21276.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5834 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Wars Between England and America, by T. C. Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Wars Between England and America + +Author: T. C. Smith + +Release Date: May 2, 2007 [EBook #21276] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WARS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +THE WARS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA + + +BY + +T. C. SMITH + + + +PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN WILLIAMS + COLLEGE, WILLIAMSTOWN MASS., U.S.A. + + + + +LONDON + +WILLIAMS AND NORGATE + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers +enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page +breaks occurred in the original book, in accordance with Project +Gutenberg's FAQ-V-99. For its Index, a page number has been placed +only at the start of that section.] + + + + +First printed 1914/15. + + + + +{v} + +PREFACE + +The purpose of this volume is to show how social, economic, and +political causes led to a period of almost continuous antagonism +between England and the American communities from 1763 to the +ratification of the Treaty of Ghent in 1815, and how that antagonism +was ended. The war of American Independence, 1775-1783, and the war of +1812-1815 give their names to the book, not because of their military +or naval importance, but because they mark, in each case, the outcome +of successive years of unavailing efforts on the part of each country +to avoid bloodshed. With this aim in view, no more detailed study of +the internal political history or institutions of either country can be +included than is necessary to account for different political habits; +nor can the events of diplomatic history be developed beyond what is +called for to explain persistent lines of action or the conclusion of a +significant treaty. + + + + +{vi} + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + + I THE ELEMENTS OF ANTAGONISM, 1763 . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 + II THE CONTEST OVER PARLIAMENTARY TAXATION, 1763-1773 . . . 28 + III THE DISRUPTION OF THE EMPIRE, 1773-1776 . . . . . . . . . 51 + IV THE CIVIL WAR IN THE EMPIRE, 1776-1778 . . . . . . . . . 75 + V FRENCH INTERVENTION AND BRITISH FAILURE, 1778-1781 . . . 96 + VI BRITISH PARTIES AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 1778-1783 . . 114 + VII THE FORMATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 1781-1793 . . . . . . 129 + VIII THE FIRST PERIOD OF COMMERCIAL ANTAGONISM, 1783-1795 . . 149 + IX THE TRIUMPH OF DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1795-1805 169 + X THE SECOND PERIOD OF COMMERCIAL ANTAGONISM, 1805-1812 . . 189 + XI THE WAR FOR "SAILORS' RIGHTS" AND WESTWARD + EXPANSION, 1812-1815 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 + XII END OF THE ANTAGONISM: A CENTURY OF PEACE . . . . . . . . 236 + BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 + INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 + + + + +{9} + +THE WARS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ELEMENTS OF ANTAGONISM, 1763 + +In 1763, by the Peace of Paris, England won a position of unapproached +supremacy in colonial possessions and in naval strength. The entire +North American continent east of the Mississippi River was now under +the British flag, and four West India sugar islands were added to those +already in English hands. In India, the rivalry of the French was +definitely crushed and the control of the revenues and fortunes of the +native potentates was transferred to the East India Company. Guided by +the genius of Pitt, British armies had beaten French in Germany and +America, and British fleets had conquered French and Spanish with +complete ease. The power of the Empire seemed beyond challenge. Yet +within this Empire itself there lay already the seeds of a discord +which was soon {10} to develop into an irrepressible contest, leading +to civil war; then, for a generation, to drive the separated parts into +renewed antagonism, and finally to cause a second war. Between the +North American colonies and the mother country there existed such +moral, political, and economic divergence that nothing but prudent and +patient statesmanship on both sides of the Atlantic could prevent +disaster. + +The fundamental source of antagonism lay in the fact that the thirteen +colonies had developed a wholly different social and political life +from that of the mother country. Originally, the prevailing ideas and +habits of the colonists and of the Englishmen who remained at home had +been substantially the same. In England, as in America, the gentry and +middle classes played a leading part during the years from 1600 to +1660. But by 1763 England, under the Hanoverian kings, had become a +state where all political and social power had been gathered into the +hands of a landed aristocracy which dominated the government, the +Church, and the professions. In parliament, the House of Commons--once +the body which reflected the conscious strength of the gentry and +citizens,--had now fallen under the control of the peers, owing to the +decayed condition of scores of ancient parliamentary boroughs. Nearly +one-third of the seats were actually {11} or substantially owned by +noblemen, and of the remainder a majority were venal, the close +corporations of Mayor and Aldermen selling freely their right to return +two members at each parliamentary election. In addition, the influence +and prestige of the great landowners were so powerful that even in the +counties, and in those boroughs where the number of electors was +considerable, none but members of the ruling class sought election. So +far as the members of the middle class were concerned--the merchants, +master weavers, iron producers, and craftsmen,--they were strong in +wealth and their wishes counted heavily with the aristocracy in all +legislation of a financial or commercial nature; but of actual part in +the government they had none. As for the lower classes,--the +labourers, tenant farmers, and shopkeepers,--they were able as a rule +to influence government only by rioting and uproar. Without the +ballot, they had no other way. + +Owing to the personal weakness of successive monarchs since the death +of William III, there had grown up the cabinet system of government +which, in 1763, meant the reduction of the King to the position of an +honorary figurehead and the actual control of officers, perquisites, +patronage, and preferment, as well as the direction of public policy, +by the leaders of parliamentary groups. The King was {12} obliged to +select his ministers from among the members of noble families in the +Lords or Commons, who agreed among themselves after elaborate bargains +and negotiations upon the formation of cabinets and the distribution of +honours. In this way sundry great Whig family "connections," as they +were called, had come to monopolize political power, excluding Tories, +or adherents of the Stuarts, and treating government as solely a matter +of aristocratic concern. Into this limited circle, a poor man could +rise only by making himself useful through his talents or his eloquence +to one of the ruling cliques, and the goal of his career was naturally +a peerage. + +The weakness of this system of government by family connection lay in +its thorough dependence upon customs of patronage and perquisite. The +public offices were heavily burdened with lucrative sinecures, which +were used in the factional contests to buy support in Parliament, as +were also peerages, contracts, and money bribes. When George III +ascended the throne, in 1760, he found the most powerful Minister in +the Cabinet to be the Duke of Newcastle, whose sole qualification, +apart from his birth, was his pre-eminent ability to handle patronage +and purchase votes. That such a system did not ruin England was due to +the tenacity and personal courage of this aristocracy and to {13} its +use of parliamentary methods, whereby the orderly conduct of +legislation and taxation and the habit of public attack and defence of +government measures furnished political training for the whole ruling +class. Further, the absence of any sharp caste lines made it possible +for them to turn, in times of crisis, to such strong-fibred and +masterful commoners as Walpole and Pitt, each of whom, in his way, +saved the country from the incompetent hands of titled ministries. + +This system, moreover, rested in 1763 on the aquiescence of practically +all Englishmen. It was accepted by middle and lower classes alike as +normal and admirable; and only a small body of radicals felt called +upon to criticize the exclusion of the mass of taxpayers from a share +in the government. Pitt, in Parliament, was ready to proclaim a +national will as something distinct from the voice of the +borough-owners, but he had few followers. Only in London and a few +counties did sundry advocates of parliamentary reform strive in the +years after 1763 to emphasize these views by organizing the freemen to +petition and to "instruct" their representatives in the Commons. Such +desires evoked nothing but contempt and antipathy in the great majority +of Englishmen. Especially when they became audible in the mouths of +rioters did they appear revolutionary and {14} obnoxious to the lovers +of peace, good order, and the undisturbed collection of rents and +taxes. Nothing but a genuine social revolution could bring such ideas +to victory and that, in 1763, lay very far in the future. For the time +conservatism reigned supreme. + +In the thirteen colonies, on the other hand, the communities of +middle-class Englishmen who emigrated in the seventeenth century had +developed nothing resembling a real aristocracy. Social distinctions, +modelled on those of the old country, remained between the men of large +wealth--such as the great landed proprietors in New York and the +planters in the South, or the successful merchants in New England and +the Middle colonies--and the small farmers, shopkeepers, and fishermen, +who formed the bulk of the population; while all of these joined in +regarding the outlying frontiersmen as elements of society deserving of +small consideration. Men of property, education, and "position" +exercised a distinct leadership in public and private life. Yet all +this remained purely social; in law no such thing as an aristocracy +could be found, and in government the colonies had grown to be very +nearly republican. Here lay the fundamental distinction between the +England and the America of 1763. In America, a title or peerage +conferred no political rights {15} whatever; these were founded in +every case on law, on a royal charter or a royal commission which +established a frame of government, and were based on moderate property +qualifications which admitted a majority of adult males to the suffrage +and to office. + +In every colony the government consisted of a governor, a council, and +an assembly representing the freemen. This body, by charter, or royal +instructions, had the full right to impose taxes and vote laws; and, +although its acts were liable to veto by the governor, or by the Crown +through the Privy Council, it possessed the actual control of political +power. This it derived immediately from its constituents and not from +any patrons, lords, or close corporations. Representation and the +popular will were, in fact, indissolubly united. + +The governor in two colonies, Connecticut and Rhode Island, was chosen +by the freemen. Elsewhere, he was appointed by an outside authority: +in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland by the hereditary proprietor to +whom the charter had been granted, in all other colonies by the Crown. +The councillors, who commonly exercised judicial functions in addition +to their duties as the governor's advisers and as the upper house of +the legislature, were appointed in all colonies except the three in New +England; {16} and they were chosen in all cases from among the socially +prominent colonists. The judges, also, were appointed by the governor; +and they, with governor and council, were supposed to represent the +home government in the colonies. + +But in reality there was no effective imperial control. The Crown, it +is true, appeared to have large powers. It granted charters, +established provinces by commissions, exercised the right to annul laws +and hear appeals from colonial decisions, exacted reports from +governors, sent instructions, and made appointments and removals at +will. But nearly all the colonial officials, except the few customs +officers, were paid out of colonial appropriations, and this one fact +sufficed to deprive them of any independent position. In nearly every +colony, the assembly, in the course of two-thirds of a century of +incessant petty conflict, of incessant wrangling and bargaining, of +incessant encroachments on the nominal legal powers of the governor, +had made itself master of the administration. The colonists resisted +all attempts to direct their military or civil policy, laid only such +taxes as they chose, raised only such troops as they saw fit, passed +only such laws as seemed to them desirable, and tied the governor's +hands by every sort of device. They usurped the {17} appointment of +the colonial treasurer, they appointed committees to oversee the +expenditure of sums voted, they systematically withheld a salary from +the governor, in order to render him dependent upon annual "presents," +liable to diminution or termination in case he did not satisfy the +assembly's wishes. The history of the years from 1689 to 1763 is a +chronicle of continual defeat for governors who were obliged to see one +power after another wrenched away from them. Under the circumstances, +the political life of the thirteen colonies was practically republican +in character, and was as marked for its absence of administrative +machinery as the home government was for its aristocracy and +centralization. + +Another feature of colonial life tended to accentuate this difference. +Although religion had ceased to be a political question, and the +English Church was no longer regarded, save in New England, as +dangerous to liberty, the fact that the great majority of the colonists +were dissenters--Congregational, Presbyterian, or Reformed, with a +considerable scattering of Baptists and other sects--had an effect on +the attitude of the people toward England. In the home country, the +controlling social classes accepted the established church as part of +the constitution; but in the colonies it had small {18} strength, and +even where it was by law established it remained little more than an +official body, the "Governor's church." This tended to widen the gap +between the political views of the individualistic dissenting and +Puritan sects in the colonies and the people at home. + +The American of 1763 was thus a different kind of man from the +Englishman. As a result of the divergent development on the two sides +of the Atlantic from a common ancestry, their political habits had +become mutually incomprehensible. To the Englishman, the rule of the +nobility was normal--the ideal political system. He was content, if a +commoner, with the place assigned to him. To the colonist, on the +other hand, government in which the majority of adult male inhabitants +possessed the chief power was the only valid form,--all others were +vicious. Patriotism meant two contradictory things. The Englishman's +patriotism was sturdy but unenthusiastic, and showed itself almost as +much in a contempt for foreigners as in complacency over English +institutions. The colonist, on the contrary, had a double allegiance: +one conventional and traditional, to the British crown; the other a +new, intensely local and narrow attachment to his province. England +was still the "old home," looked to as the source of political +authority, of manners and literature. It was for many of {19} the +residents their recent abode and, for all except a few of Dutch, +German, or French extraction, their ancestral country. But already +this "loyalty" on the part of the colonists was dwindling into +something more sentimental than real. The genuine local patriotism of +the colonists was shown by their persistent struggle against the +representatives of English authority in the governors' chairs. There +had developed in America a new sort of man, an "American," who wished +to be as independent of government as possible, and who, while +professing and no doubt feeling a general loyalty to England, was in +fact a patriot of his own colony. + +The colonists entered very slightly into the thoughts of the English +noblemen and gentry. They were regarded in a highly practical way, +without a trace of any sentiment, as members of the middle and lower +classes, not without a large criminal admixture, who had been helped +and allowed to build up some unruly and not very admirable communities. +Nor did the English middle classes look upon the colonists with much +interest, or regard them as, on the whole, their equals. The +prevailing colonial political habits, as seen from England, suggested +only unwarrantable wrangling indicative of political incompetence and a +spirit of disobedience. Loyalty, to an {20} Englishman, meant +submission to the law. To men trained in such different schools, words +did not mean the same thing. The time had come when the two peoples +were scarcely able to understand each other. + +A second cause for antagonism, scarcely less fundamental and destined +to cause equal irritation, is to be found in the conflict between the +economic life of the American communities and the beliefs of the mother +country concerning commercial and naval policy. Great Britain, in +1763, was predominantly a trading country. Its ships carried goods for +all the nations of Europe and brought imports to England from all +lands. Although the manufacturers were not yet in possession of the +new inventions which were to revolutionize the industries of the world, +they were active and prosperous in their domestic production of +hardware and textiles, and they furnished cargoes for the shipowners to +transport to all quarters. To these two great interests of the middle +classes, banking and finance were largely subsidiary. Agriculture, the +mainstay of the nobility and gentry, continued to hold first place in +the interests of the governing classes, but the importance of all +sources of wealth was fully recognized. + +In the colonies, on the contrary, manufacture scarcely existed beyond +the domestic {21} production of articles for local use; and the +inhabitants relied on importations for nearly all finished commodities +and for all luxuries. Their products were chiefly things which Great +Britain could not itself raise, such as sugar in the West Indies; +tobacco from the islands and the southern mainland colonies; indigo and +rice from Carolina; furs, skins, masts, pine products; and, from New +England, above all, fish. The natural market for these articles was in +England or in other colonies; and in return British manufactures found +their natural market in the new communities. When the Economic +Revolution transformed industry, and factories, driven by steam, made +England the workshop of the world, the existing tendency for her to +supply America with manufactured products was intensified regardless of +the political separation of the two countries. Not until later +economic changes supervened was this normal relationship altered. + +The traditional British policy in 1763 was that of the so-called +Mercantile System, which involved a thoroughgoing application of the +principle of protection to the British shipowner, manufacturer, and +corn-grower against any competition. An elaborate tariff, with a +system of prohibitions and bounties, attempted to prevent the landowner +from being undersold by foreign corn, and the {22} manufacturer from +meeting competition from foreign producers. Navigation Acts shut out +foreign-built, -owned, or -manned ships from the carrying trade between +any region but their home country and England, reserving all other +commerce for British vessels. Into this last restriction there entered +another purely political consideration, namely, the perpetuation of a +supply of mariners for the British navy, whose importance was fully +recognized. So far as the colonies were concerned, they were brought +within the scope of mercantilist ideas by being considered as sources +of supply for England in products not possible to raise at home, as +markets which must be reserved for British manufacturers and traders, +and as places which must not be allowed to develop any rivalry to +British producers. Furthermore, they were so situated that by proper +regulations they might serve to encourage British shipping even if this +involved an economic loss. + +The Navigation Acts accordingly, from 1660 to 1763, were designed to +put this theory into operation, and excluded all foreign vessels from +trading with the colonies, prohibited any trade to the colonies except +from British ports and enumerated certain commodities--sugar, cotton, +dye woods, indigo, rice, furs--which could be sent only to England. To +ensure the carrying out of these {23} laws, an elaborate system of +bonds and local duties was devised, and customs officers were +appointed, resident in the colonies, while governors were obliged to +take oath to enforce the Acts. As time revealed defects or unnecessary +stringencies, the restrictions were frequently modified. The +Carolinas, for instance, were allowed to ship rice not only to England, +but to any place in Europe south of Cape Finisterre. Bounties were +established to aid the production of tar and turpentine; but special +Acts prohibited the export of hats from the colonies, or the +manufacture of rolled iron, in order to check a possible source of +competition to British producers. In short, the Board of Trade, the +administrative body charged with the oversight of the plantations, +devoted its energies to suggesting devices which should aid the +colonists, benefit the British consumer and producer, and increase +"navigation." + +It does not appear that the Acts of Trade were, in general, a source of +loss to the colonies. Their vessels shared in the privileges reserved +for British-built ships. The compulsory sending of the enumerated +commodities to England may have damaged the tobacco-growers; but in +other respects it did little harm. The articles would have gone to +England in any case. The restriction of importation to goods from +England was no {24} great grievance, since British products would, in +any case, have supplied the American market. Even the effort, by an +Act of 1672, to check intercolonial trade in enumerated commodities was +not oppressive, for, with one exception noted below, there was no great +development of such a trade. By 1763, according to the best evidence, +the thirteen colonies seem to have adjusted their habits to the +Navigation Acts, and to have been carrying on their flourishing +commerce within these restrictions. + +To this general condition, however, there were some slight exceptions, +and one serious one. The colonists undoubtedly resented the necessity +of purchasing European products from English middlemen, and were +especially desirous of importing Spanish and Portuguese wines and +French brandies directly. Smuggling in these articles seems to have +been steadily carried on. Much more important--and to the American +ship-owners the kernel of the whole matter--was the problem of the West +India trade. It was proved, as the eighteenth century progressed, that +the North American colonies could balance their heavy indebtedness to +the mother country for excess of imports over exports only by selling +to the French, as well as the British West Indies, barrel staves, +clapboards, fish and food products. In {25} return, they took sugar +and molasses, developing in New England a flourishing rum manufacture, +which in turn was used in the African slave trade. By these means the +people of the New England and Middle colonies built up an active +commerce, using their profits to balance their indebtedness to England. +This "triangular trade" disturbed the British West India planters, who, +being largely non-residents and very influential in London, induced +Parliament, in 1733, to pass an Act imposing prohibitory duties on all +sugar and molasses of foreign growth. This law, if enforced, would +have struck a damaging blow at the prosperity of the Northern colonies, +merely to benefit the West India sugar-growers by giving them a +monopoly; but the evidence goes to show that it was systematically +evaded and that French sugar, together with French and Portuguese +wines, was still habitually smuggled into the colonies. Thus the +Navigation Acts, in the only points where they would have been actually +oppressive, were not enforced. The colonial governors saw the serious +consequences and shrank from arousing discontent. It is significant +that the same colonists who contended with the royal governors did not +hesitate to violate a parliamentary law when it ran counter to their +interests. + +The only reason why the radical difference {26} between the colonies +and the home government did not cause open conflict long before 1763 is +to be found in the absorption of the English ministries in +parliamentary manoeuvring at home, diplomacy, and European wars. The +weakness of the imperial control was recognized and frequently +complained of by governors, Boards of Trade, and other officials; but +so long as the colonies continued to supply the sugar, furs, lumber and +masts called for by the Acts, bought largely from English shippers and +manufacturers, and stimulated the growth of British shipping, the Whig +and Tory noblemen were content. The rapidly growing republicanism of +the provincial and proprietary governments was ignored and allowed to +develop unchecked. A half-century of complaints from thwarted +governors, teeming with suggestions that England ought to take the +government of the colonies into its own hands, produced no results +beyond creating in official circles an opinion unfavourable to the +colonists. + +In the years of the French war, 1754-1760, the utter incompatibility +between imperial theories on the one hand and colonial political habits +on the other, could no longer be disregarded. In the midst of the +struggle, the legislatures continued to wrangle with governors over +points of privilege; they were slow to vote supplies; they were {27} +dilatory in raising troops; they hung back from a jealous fear that +their neighbour colonies might fail to do their share; they were ready +to let British soldiers do all the hard fighting. Worse still, the +colonial shipowners persisted in their trade with the French and +Spanish West Indies, furnishing their enemies with supplies, and buying +their sugar and molasses as usual. When, in Boston, writs of +assistance were employed by the customs officials, in order that by a +general power of search they might discover such smuggled property, the +merchants protested in the courts, and James Otis, a fiery young +lawyer, boldly declared the writs an infringement of the rights of the +colonists, unconstitutional, and beyond the power of Parliament to +authorize. To Ministers engaged in a tremendous war for the overthrow +of France, the behaviour of the colonies revealed a spirit scarcely +short of disloyalty, and a weakness of government no longer to be +tolerated. The Secretaries, the Board of Trade, the customs officials, +army officers, naval commanders, colonial governors, and judges all +agreed that the time had come for a thorough and drastic reform. They +approached the task purely and simply as members of the English +governing classes, ignorant of the colonists' political ideas and +totally indifferent to their views; and their measures were framed in +the spirit {28} of unquestioning acceptance of the principles of the +Acts of Trade as a fundamental national policy. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CONTEST OVER PARLIAMENTARY TAXATION, 1763-1773 + +The Prime Minister responsible for the new colonial policy was George +Grenville, who assumed his position in May, 1763, shortly after the +final treaty of Paris. Every other member of his Cabinet was a +nobleman, Grenville himself was brother of an earl, and most of them +had had places in preceding Ministries. It was a typical +administration of the period, completely aristocratic in membership and +spirit, quite indifferent to colonial views, and incapable of +comprehending colonial ideals even if they had known them. To them the +business in hand was a purely practical one; and with confident energy +Grenville pushed through a series of measures, which had been carefully +worked out, of course, by minor officials unknown to fame, during the +preceding months, {29} but which were destined to produce results +undreamed of by any one in England. + +In the first place, there were a number of measures to strengthen and +revivify the Acts of Trade. Colonists were given new privileges in the +whale fishery, hides and skins were "enumerated," and steps were taken +to secure a more rigorous execution of the Acts by the employment of +naval vessels against smuggling. A new Sugar Act reduced the tariff on +foreign sugar to such a point that it would be heavily protective +without being prohibitive, and at the same time imposed special duties +on Portuguese wines, while providing additional machinery for +collecting customs. This was clearly aimed at the weak point in the +existing navigation system; but it introduced a new feature, for the +sugar duties, unlike previous ones, were intended to raise a revenue, +and this, it was provided in the Act, should be used to pay for the +defence of America. + +A second new policy was inaugurated in a proclamation of October, 1763, +which made Florida and Canada despotically governed provinces, and set +off all the land west of the head-waters of the rivers running into the +Atlantic as an Indian reservation. No further land grants were to be +made in that region, nor was any trade to be permitted with the Indians +save by royal licence. The {30} Imperial government thus assumed +control of Indian policy, and endeavoured to check any further growth +of the existing communities to the West. Such a scheme necessitated +the creation of a royal standing army in America on a larger scale than +the previous garrisons; and this plan led to the third branch of the +new policy, which contemplated the positive interposition of Parliament +to remedy the shortcomings of colonial assemblies. An Act of 1764 +prohibited the future issue of any paper money by any colony, thus +terminating one of the chief grievances of British governors and +merchants. But still more striking was an Act of 1765, which provided +with great elaboration for the collection of a stamp tax in the +colonies upon all legal documents, newspapers, and pamphlets. The +proceeds were to be used to pay about one-third of the cost of the new +standing army, which was to consist of ten thousand men. Taken in +connection with the announced intention of using the revenue from the +Sugar Act for the same purpose, it is obvious that Grenville's measures +were meant to relieve the Imperial government from the necessity of +depending in future upon the erratic and unmanageable colonial +legislatures. They were parts of a general political and financial +programme. There is not the slightest evidence that Grenville or his +associates dreamed {31} that they were in any way affecting the +colonists' rights or restricting their liberties. Grenville did +consult the colonial agents--individuals authorized to represent the +colonial assemblies in England--but simply with a view to meeting +practical objections. The various proclamations or orders were issued +without opposition, and the bills passed Parliament almost unnoticed. +The British governing class was but slightly concerned with colonial +reform: the Board of Trade, the colonial officials, and the responsible +Ministers were the only people interested. + +To the astonishment of the Cabinet and of the English public, the new +measures, especially the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act, raised a storm of +opposition in the colonies unlike anything in their history. The +reasons are obvious. If the new Sugar Act was to be enforced, it meant +the end of the flourishing French West India intercourse and the death +of the "triangular" trade. Every distiller, shipowner, and exporter of +fish, timber, or grain, felt himself threatened with ruin. If the +Stamp Act were enforced, it meant the collection of a tax from +communities already in debt from the French wars, which were in future +to be denied the facile escape from heavy taxes hitherto afforded by +bills of credit. But the economic burdens threatened were almost lost +sight of in the political {32} dangers. If England meant to impose +taxes by parliamentary vote for military purposes, instead of calling +upon the colonists to furnish money and men, it meant a deadly blow to +the importance of the assemblies. They could no longer exercise +complete control over their property and their finances. They would +sink to the status of mere municipal bodies. So far as the Americans +of 1765 were concerned, the feeling was universal that such a change +was intolerable, that if they ceased to have the full power to give or +withhold taxes at their discretion they were practically slaves. + +In every colony there sprang to the front leaders who voiced these +sentiments in impassioned speeches and pamphlets; for the most part +young men, many of them lawyers accustomed to look for popular approval +in resisting royal governors. Such men as James Otis and Samuel Adams +in Massachusetts, William Livingston in New York, Patrick Henry in +Virginia, Christopher Gadsden in South Carolina denounced the Stamp Act +as tyrannous, unconstitutional, and an infringement of the liberties of +the colonists. Popular anger rose steadily until, in the autumn, when +the stamps arrived, the people of the thirteen colonies had nerved +themselves to the pitch of refusing to obey the Act. Under pressure +from crowds of angry men, {33} every distributor was compelled to +resign, the stamps were in some cases destroyed, and in Boston the +houses of unpopular officials were mobbed and sacked. Before the +excitement, the governors stood utterly helpless. They could do +nothing to carry out the Act. + +In October, delegates representing nearly all the colonies met at New +York, and drafted resolutions expressing their firm belief that no tax +could legally be levied upon them but by their own consent, given +through their legislatures. It was the right of Englishmen not to be +taxed without their consent. Petitions in respectful but determined +language were sent to the King and to Parliament, praying for the +repeal of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act. For the first time in their +history, the colonies stood together in full harmony to denounce and +reject an Act passed by Parliament. As a social and political fact, +this unanimous demonstration of colonial feeling was of profound +significance. The ease and ability with which the lawyers, planters, +farmers, or merchants directed the popular excitement into effective +channels showed the widespread political education of the Americans. A +not dissimilar excitement in London in the same years found no other +means of expressing itself than bloody rioting. It was American {34} +republicanism showing its strongest aspect in political resistance. + +The issue thus presented to the British government was one demanding +the most careful consideration and far-seeing wisdom in its treatment. +Grenville's measures, however admirable and reasonable in themselves, +had stirred the bitter opposition of all the colonists, and the +enforcement or modification of them called for steadiness and courage. +Were the English governing noblemen of the day ready to persist in the +new policy? If so, it meant violent controversy and possibly colonial +insurrection; but the exertion of British authority, if coupled with +strong naval pressure, ought to prevail. Angry as the colonists were, +their language indicates that revolution was not in their thoughts; +and, if there was one quality beyond all others in which the British +aristocracy excelled, it was an inflexible tenacity when once a policy +was definitely embraced. Unfortunately for both sides, the clear-cut +issue thus raised was obscured and distorted by the presence on the +throne of an ambitious young prince with a policy which threw British +domestic affairs into unexampled confusion. + +George III, obstinate, narrow-minded, and determined to make his own +will felt in the choice of Ministers and the direction of affairs, had +succeeded his grandfather in 1760. Too {35} astute to violate the +fast-bound tradition of the British constitution that he must govern +only through Ministers, he saw that to have his own way he must secure +political servants who, while acting as Cabinet Ministers, should take +their orders from him. He also saw that to destroy the hold of the +Whig family cliques he must enter politics himself and buy, intimidate, +and cajole in order to win a following for his Ministers in parliament. +With this ideal in view, he subordinated all other considerations to +the single one of getting subservient Ministers, and fought or +intrigued against any Cabinet which did not accept his direction, +until, in 1770, he finally triumphed. In the meantime he had kept +England under a fluctuating succession of Ministries which forbade the +maintenance of any coherent or authoritative colonial policy such as +alone could have prevented disaster. + +In 1761 George III tried to induce Parliament to accept the leadership +of the Earl of Bute, his former tutor, who had never held public +office; but his rapid rise to the Premiership aroused such jealousy +among the nobility and such unpopularity among the people that the +unfortunate Scot quailed before the storm of ridicule and abuse. He +resigned in 1763, and was succeeded by Grenville, who instantly showed +George III that he would take no dictation. On the contrary, {36} he +drove the King to the point of fury by his masterfulness. In +desperation, George then turned to the Marquis of Rockingham who, if +equally determined to decline royal dictation, was personally less +offensive to him; and there came in a Ministry of the usual type, all +noblemen but two minor members, and all belonging to "connections" +different from those of the Grenville Ministry. Thus it was that, when +the unanimous defiance of the Americans reached England, the Ministers +responsible for the colonial reforms were out of office, and the +Rockingham Whigs had assumed control, feeling no obligation to continue +anything begun by their predecessors. George III's interposition was +responsible for this situation. + +When Parliament met in January, 1766, the colonists received powerful +allies, first in the British merchants, who petitioned against the Act +as causing the practical stoppage of American purchases, and second in +William Pitt, who, in a burning speech, embraced in full the colonists' +position, and declared that a parliamentary tax upon the plantations +was absolutely contrary to the rights of Englishmen. He "rejoiced that +America has resisted." This radical position found few followers; but +the Whig Ministry, after some hesitation, decided to grant the colonial +demands while insisting {37} on the imperial rights of Parliament. +This characteristically English action was highly distasteful to the +majority in the House of Lords, who voted to execute the law, and to +George III, who disliked to yield to mutinous subjects; but they were +forced to give way. The Stamp Act was repealed, and the sugar duties +were reduced to a low figure. At the same time a Declaratory Act was +passed, asserting that Parliament had full power to bind the colonies +"in all cases whatsoever." Thus the Americans had their way in part, +while submitting to seeing their arguments rejected. + +The consequences of this unfortunate affair were to bring into sharp +contrast the British and the American views of the status of the +colonies. The former considered them as parts of the realm, subject +like any other part to the legislative authority of King, Lords, and +Commons. The contention of the colonists, arising naturally from the +true situation in each colonial government, that the rights of +Englishmen guaranteed their freedom from taxation without +representation, was answered by the perfectly sound legal assertion +that the colonists, like all the people of England, were "virtually" +represented in the House of Commons. The words, in short, meant one +thing in England, another thing in America. English speakers {38} and +writers pointed to the scores of statutes affecting the colonies, +calling attention especially to the export duties of the Navigation Act +of 1672, and the import duties of the Act of 1733, not to mention its +revision of 1764. Further, Parliament had regulated provincial coinage +and money, had set up a postal service, and established rates. +Although Parliament had not imposed any such tax as the Stamp Act, it +had, so far as precedent showed, exercised financial powers on many +occasions. + +To meet the British appeal to history, the colonists developed the +theory that commercial regulation, including the imposition of customs +duties, was "external" and hence lay naturally within the scope of +imperial legislation, but that "internal" taxation was necessarily in +the hands of the colonial assemblies. There was sufficient +plausibility in this claim to commend it to Pitt, who adopted it in his +speeches, and to Benjamin Franklin, the agent for Pennsylvania, already +well known as a "philosopher," who expounded it confidently when he was +examined as an expert on American affairs at the bar of the Commons. +It was, however, without any clear legal justification, and, as English +speakers kept pointing out, it was wholly incompatible with the +existence of a genuine imperial government. That it was {39} a +perfectly practical distinction, in keeping with English customs, was +also true; but that was not to be realized until three-quarters of a +century later. + +With the repeal of the objectionable law the uproar in America ceased, +and, amid profuse expressions of gratitude to Pitt, the Ministry, and +the King, the colonists returned to their normal activities. The other +parts of the Grenville programme were not altered, and it was now +possible for English Ministers, by a wise and steady policy, to improve +the weak spots in the colonial system without giving undue offence to a +population whose sensitiveness and obstinate devotion to entire +self-government had been so powerfully shown. Unfortunately, the King +again interposed his influence in such wise as to prevent any rational +colonial policy. In the summer of 1766, tiring of the Rockingham +Ministry, he managed to bring together an odd coalition of political +groups under the nominal headship of the Duke of Grafton. Pitt, who +disliked the family cliques, accepted office and the title of Earl of +Chatham, hoping to lead a national Ministry. The other elements were +in part Whig, and in part representatives of the so-called "King's +Friends"--a growing body of more or less venal politicians who clung to +George's support for the sake of the patronage to be {40} gained--and +several genuine Tories who looked to a revived royal power to end the +Whig monopoly. From such a Cabinet no consistent policy was to be +expected, save under leadership of a man like Pitt. Unfortunately the +latter was immediately taken with an illness which kept him out of +public life for two years; and Grafton, the nominal Prime Minister, was +utterly unable to hold his own against the influence and intrigues of +the King. From the start, accordingly, the Ministry proved weak and +unstable, and it allowed a new set of colonial quarrels to develop. + +Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, one of the originators +of the new colonial policy under the Bute Ministry, was so ill-advised +as to renew the attempt to raise a colonial revenue by parliamentary +taxation. His manner of proposing the measure gave the impression that +it was a piece of sheer bravado on his part, intended to regain the +prestige which he had lost by failing to carry all of his first budget; +but the nature of the scheme indicates its close connection with the +Grenville ideals. Avoiding the appearance of a direct internal tax, he +caused the imposition of duties on glass, painters' colours, paper, and +tea, without any pretence of regulating commerce, but for the announced +purpose of defraying the expenses {41} of governors and judges in the +colonies. Another measure established an American Board of +Commissioners for customs. Still another punished the province of New +York for failing to comply with an Act of 1765 authorizing quartering +of troops in the colonies. The assembly was forbidden to pass any law +until it should make provision for the soldiers in question. +Ex-governor Pownall of Massachusetts, now in Parliament, did not fail +to warn the House of the danger into which it was running; but his +words were unheeded, and the Bills passed promptly. + +The result of these measures was inevitable. Every political leader in +the colonies--nay, every voter--saw that the Townshend duties, while in +form "external," were pure revenue measures, unconnected with the Acts +of Trade, and intended to strike at colonial independence in a vital +point. If Great Britain undertook henceforward to pay the salaries of +royal officials, one of the principal sources of power would be taken +away from the assemblies. Instantly the distinction of "external" and +"internal" taxation was abandoned; and from end to end of the Atlantic +seaboard a cry went up that the duties were an insidious attack on the +liberties of the Americans, an outrageous taking of their property +without their consent, and a wanton interference with their {42} +governments. Not merely agitators such as the shrewd Samuel Adams and +the eloquent Patrick Henry uttered these views, but men of far more +considerable property and station--such as John Jay and New York +landowners and importers, John Dickinson and the Philadelphia +merchants, George Washington and the Virginia planters. While no +general Congress was summoned, the legislatures of the colonies adopted +elaborate resolutions, pamphleteers issued a stream of denunciations, +and, most important of all, a concerted effort was made to break down +the Acts by abstaining from any importations, not only of the taxed +commodities, but, so far as possible, of any British products. +Commercial boycott, it was hoped, would have the same effect as at the +time of the Stamp Act. + +By this time the colonial argument had come to assume a much broader +character, for, in order to deny the validity of the New York Assembly +Act and the Townshend duties, it became necessary to assert that +Parliament, according to "natural rights," had no legislative authority +over the internal affairs of a colony. This was vested, by the +constitution of each province or chartered colony, in the Crown and the +colonial legislature. Such a theory reduced the imperial tie to little +more than a personal union through the monarch, coupled with the {43} +admitted power of Parliament to regulate commerce and navigation. +Evidently, as in all such cases, the theory was framed to justify a +particular desire, namely, to keep things where they had been prior to +1763. The sole question at issue was, in reality, one of power, not of +abstract or legal right. Once more it was clear to men of penetrating +vision that the American colonies needed extremely careful handling. +Whether their arguments were sound or fallacious, loyal or seditious, +it was significant that the whole continent spoke with one voice and +felt but one desire--to be allowed to exercise complete financial +discretion and to retain full control over governors and judges. +Unfortunately the condition of things in England was such that a cool +or steady treatment of the question was becoming impossible. In the +first place, the Grafton Ministry was reconstituted in 1768, the +"Pittite" elements withdrawing, and being replaced by more King's +Friends and Tories, while George III's influence grew predominant. +Townshend died in September, 1767, but his place was taken by Lord +North, a Tory and especially subservient to the King. A new +secretaryship for the colonies was given to Lord Hillsborough, who had +been in the Board of Trade in the Grenville Ministry, and represented +his views. Neither of these {44} men was inclined to consider colonial +clamour in any other light than as unpardonable impudence and sedition. +In the second place, the old Whig family groups were fast assuming an +attitude of bitter opposition to the new Tories, and by 1768 were +prepared to use the American question as a convenient weapon to +discredit the Ministry. They were quite as aristocratic in temper as +the ministerial party, but advocated forbearance, conciliation, and +calmness in dealing with the Americans, in speeches as remarkable for +their political good sense as for their ferocity toward North, +Hillsborough, and the rest. While the Ministry drew its views of the +American situation from royal governors and officials, the Whigs +habitually consulted with Franklin and the other colonial agents, who +occupied a quasi-diplomatic position. Thus the American question +became a partisan battleground. The Tories, attacked by the Whigs, +developed a stubborn obstinacy in holding to a "firm" colonial policy, +and exhibited a steady contempt and anger toward their American +adversaries which was in no small degree due to the English party +antagonism. + +Still further to confuse the situation, there occurred at this time the +contest of John Wilkes, backed by the London mob, against the Grafton +Ministry. This demagogue, able {45} and profligate, had already come +into conflict with the Grenville Ministry in 1765, and had been driven +into exile. Now, in 1768, he returned and was repeatedly elected to +the Commons, and as often unseated by the vindictive ministerial +majority. Riots and bloodshed accompanied the agitation; and Wilkes +and his supporters, backed by the parliamentary Whigs, habitually +proclaimed the same doctrines of natural rights which were universally +asserted in America. To the King and his Cabinet, Wilkes and the +American leaders appeared indistinguishable. They were all brawling, +disorderly, and dangerous demagogues, deserving of no consideration. + +Under these circumstances, the complaints of the colonists, although +supported by the Whigs and by Chatham, received scant courtesy in +England. The Grafton Ministry showed nothing but an irritated +intention to maintain imperial supremacy by insisting on the taxes and +demanding submissiveness on the part of the assemblies. A series of +"firm" instructions was sent out by Hillsborough, typical of which was +an order that the Massachusetts legislature must rescind its circular +letter of protest under threat of dissolution, and that the other +assemblies must repudiate the letter under a similar menace. The sole +result was a series of embittered wrangles, dissolutions, protests, +{46} and quarrels which left the colonists still more inflamed. Then, +at the suggestion of the Commissioners of Customs, two regiments of +troops were sent to Boston to over-awe that particularly defiant +colony. There being no legislature in session, the Massachusetts towns +sent delegates to a voluntary convention which drafted a protest. +Immediately, this action was denounced by Hillsborough as seditious and +was censured by Parliament; while the Duke of Bedford moved that an old +statute of Henry VIII, by which offenders outside the realm could be +brought to England for trial, should be put into operation against the +colonial agitators. When the Virginia legislature protested against +this step, it was dissolved. Hillsborough and North acted as though +they believed that a policy of scolding and nagging, if made +sufficiently disagreeable, would bring the colonists to their senses. +That the Whigs did not cease to pour contempt and ridicule on the folly +of such behaviour was probably one reason why the government persisted +in its course. The American question was coming to be beyond the reach +of reason. + +Yet in 1769 the Ministry could not avoid recognizing that as financial +measures the Townshend duties were a hopeless failure, since their net +proceeds were less than 300 pounds and the increased military expenses +were {47} declared by Pownall to be over 170,000 pounds. On May 1, +1769, the Cabinet voted to repeal the taxes on glass, colours, and +paper, but by a majority of one determined to keep the tea duty. This +decision was due to the complaisance of Lord North, who saw the +unwisdom of the step, but yielded to the King's wish to retain one tax +in order to assert the principle of parliamentary supremacy. A year +later, the Grafton Ministry finally broke up; and Lord North assumed +control, with a Cabinet composed wholly of Tories and supported by +George III to the full extent of his power, through patronage, bribes, +social pressure, and political proscription. North himself was +inclined to moderation in colonial matters. He carried the promised +repeal of all the duties but the tea tax, and in 1772 replaced the +arrogant and quarrelsome Hillsborough with the more amiable Lord +Dartmouth. It looked for a while as though the political skies might +clear, for the American merchants, tired of their self-imposed +hardships, began to weaken in opposition. In 1769 the New York +assembly voted to accept the parliamentary terms; and in 1770 the +merchants of that colony voted to abandon general non-importation, +keeping only the boycott on tea. This led to the general collapse of +the non-importation agreements; but the colonial temper continued to be +defiant and {48} suspicious, and wrangling with governors was incessant. + +Occasional cases of violence confirmed the English Tories in their low +view of the Americans. In March, 1770, a riot in Boston between town +rowdies and the soldiers brought on a shooting affray in which five +citizens were killed. This created intense indignation throughout the +colonies, regardless of the provocation received by the soldiers, and +led to an annual commemoration of the "Boston Massacre," marked by +inflammatory speeches. The soldiers, however, when tried for murder in +the local courts, were defended by prominent counsel, notably John +Adams, and were acquitted. Two years later, on June 9, 1772, the +_Gaspee_, a naval schooner, which had been very active in chasing +smugglers in Rhode Island waters, was burned by a mob, and its captain +taken prisoner. The utmost efforts of the home government failed to +secure the detection or punishment of any one of the perpetrators. + +Finally, in December, 1773, a still more serious explosion occurred. +The North Ministry, desirous of assisting the East India Company, which +was burdened with debt, removed practically all restrictions on the +exportation of tea to America in hopes of increasing the sale by +reducing the price. To the colonial leaders, now in a state of {49} +chronic irritation, this measure seemed an insulting and insidious +attempt to induce the Americans to forget their principles and buy the +tea because it was cheap. It was denounced from end to end of the +country in burning rhetoric; and when the cargoes of tea arrived their +sale was completely prevented by the overwhelming pressure of public +opinion. Consignees, waited on by great crowds, hastened to resign; +and the tea was either seized for nonpayment of duties and allowed to +spoil, or was sent back. In Boston, however, the Governor, Hutchinson, +stiffly refused to let the tea ships depart without landing the tea, +whereat the exasperated citizens watched an organized mob of disguised +men board the ships and throw the tea into the harbour. Once more the +unanimous voice of the colonies defied a parliamentary Act. + +Such was the situation in 1773. Thirteen groups of British colonists, +obstinately local in their interests, narrowly insistent on +self-government, habituated to an antagonistic attitude toward royal +governors, but, after all has been said, unquestionably loyal to the +Crown and the home country, had been transformed into communities on +the verge of permanent insubordination. Incapable of changing all +their political habits, they could see in the British policy only a +purpose {50} to deprive them of that self-government which was +inseparable from liberty. The Crown Ministers, on the other hand, +unable to discover anything illegal, oppressive, or unreasonable in any +of their measures, found no explanation of the extravagant +denunciations of the colonial radicals other than a determination to +foment every possible difficulty with a view to throwing off all +obedience. While Adams, Dickinson, Henry, Gadsden and the rest +demanded their "rights," and protested against "incroachments" on their +liberties, Bedford, Hillsborough, North, and Dartmouth insisted on the +"indecency," "insolence," and "disloyalty" shown by the Americans. The +colonial republicans and the British noblemen were unable to speak the +same language. Yet the time had come to face the situation, and it was +the duty of the Ministers to assume the task with something more +serious than reproofs and legal formulae. The contest for power now +begun must lead, unless terminated, straight to a disruption of the +Empire. + + + + +{51} + +CHAPTER III + +THE DISRUPTION OF THE EMPIRE, 1773-1776 + +When the news reached England that the people of the town of Boston had +thrown the tea of the East India Company into the harbour, the patience +of the North ministry, already severely strained, reached an end. Its +members felt--and most of the English people felt with them--that to +submit to such an act of violence was impossible. Every consideration +of national dignity demanded that Boston and its rioters should be +punished, and that the outrage done to the East India Company should +receive atonement. Hitherto, they said, the contumacious colonists had +been dealt with chiefly by arguments, reproofs, and, as it seemed to +most Englishmen, with concessions and kindnesses which had won only +insult and violence. + +It was resolved to make an example of the delinquent community; and the +first step was to humiliate its representative, Benjamin Franklin. +Ever since 1765 he had been residing in England, respected as a +philosopher and admired as a wit, bearing a sort of diplomatic +character through his position as agent for the assemblies of +Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. In close {52} association +with the Whig opposition, he was undoubtedly the best-known American, +and among the most influential. Now, in 1774, having to present a +petition from Massachusetts to the Privy Council for the removal of +Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, Franklin found it an awkward feature of +the case that the colony's charges were based on private letters which +he himself had in some way acquired and sent to Boston. The Court +party determined to crush him, and at the hearing put forward +Wedderburn, the Solicitor-General--a typical King's Friend--who passed +over the subject of the petition to brand Franklin in virulent +invective as a thief and scoundrel. Amidst general applause, the +petition was rejected as false and scandalous, and Franklin was +dismissed from his position of colonial Postmaster-General. + +When Parliament met, it was instantly made clear that the sole idea +controlling King, Cabinet, and the majority of Members was to bring the +Massachusetts colonists to their senses by severe punitive legislation. +The Whig opposition did not attempt to defend the destruction of the +tea; but it spared no effort to make the Ministers see the folly of +striking at effects and ignoring causes. In a masterly speech of April +19, 1774, Burke showed that the insistence on submission regardless of +the grievances and of the nature {53} of the colonists was a dangerous +and absurd policy, and Pownall and Chatham repeated his arguments, but +without avail. The Ministerial party saw no danger, and felt nothing +but the contempt of an irritated aristocracy. The original ideals of a +general colonial reform were now lost sight of; the men responsible for +them had all passed off the stage; Grenville, Townshend, and Halifax +were dead, and North, careless and subservient to George III, +Hillsborough, Suffolk, Sandwich, and Rochford--all noblemen, and in +many cases inefficient--did not see beyond the problem of coercing +noisy and troublesome rioters, indistinguishable from the followers of +Wilkes. Over and over again they reiterated that the colonists' +resentment was not to be feared, that they would submit to genuine +firmness, that they were all cowardly and dared not resist a few +regular troops. Lord George Germaine earned the thanks of Lord North +by declaring that the colonists were only "a tumultuous and noisy +rabble," men who ought to be "following their mercantile employment and +not attempting to govern." Not a gleam of any other statesmanship +appears in any of the Ministerial speeches than that displayed in the +determination to exact complete submission. + +There were passed, accordingly, by the full Ministerial majority, five +measures known as {54} the Coercive Acts, or, in America, as the Five +Intolerable Acts. The first one punished Boston by closing the port to +all trade until the offending town should recompense the East India +Company for the tea destroyed. The next altered the government of +Massachusetts Bay by making the councillors appointive instead of +elective, by placing the appointment and removal of all judicial +officers entirely in the hands of the governor, by placing the +selection of jurors in the hands of the sheriffs and prohibiting +town-meetings--apart from the annual one to elect officers--without the +governor's permission. A third Act authorized the transfer to England +for trial of British officers charged with murder committed while in +discharge of their duties. A fourth Act re-established the system of +quartering troops. + +The fifth Act reorganized the province of Quebec, whose government, +under the Proclamation of 1763, had proved defective in several +respects. The legal institutions of the new colony were not well +adapted to the mixed French and British inhabitants, and the religious +situation needed definition. The Quebec Act altered the government of +the province by the creation of an appointive council, authorized the +Catholic Church to collect tithes, and allow the French to substitute +an oath of allegiance for the oath of {55} supremacy. Moreover, French +civil law was permitted to exist. At the same time the boundaries of +the province were extended into the region west of the mountains so as +to include the lands north of the Ohio River. + +With the passage of these Acts, the original causes for antagonism were +superseded. The commissioners of customs might have enforced the +Navigation Acts indefinitely; the objectionable Tea Act might have +stood permanently on the statute-book; but, without a more tangible +grievance, it is not easy to conceive of the colonists actually +beginning a revolution. The time had now come when a more serious +issue was raised than the right of Parliament to collect a revenue by a +tariff in the colonies. If Parliament was to be allowed to crush the +prosperity of a colonial seaport, to centralize a hitherto democratic +government created by a royal charter, and to remove royal officers +from the scope of colonial juries, it was clear that the end of all the +powers and privileges wrung from royal or proprietary governors by +generations of struggle was at hand. Yet the striking feature in this +punitive legislation was that the North Ministry expected it to meet no +resistance, although its execution, so far as the government of +Massachusetts was concerned, rested on the consent of the colonists. +There was, under the British {56} system, no administrative body +capable of carrying out these laws, no military force except the few +regiments in Boston, and no naval force beyond a few frigates and +cruisers. The mere passage of the laws, according to North and to Lord +Mansfield, was sufficient to bring submission. + +Nothing more clearly shows the profound ignorance of the Tory Ministry +than this expectation, for it was instantly disappointed. At the news +of the Acts, the response from America was unanimous. Already the +colonial Whigs were well organized in committees of correspondence, and +now they acted not merely in Massachusetts but in every colony. The +town of Boston refused to vote compensation, and was immediately closed +under the terms of the Port Act. Expressions of sympathy and gifts of +provisions came pouring into the doomed community; while public +meetings, legislatures, political leaders and clergymen, in chorus +denounced the Acts as unconstitutional, cruel, and tyrannous. The +Quebec Act, extending the Catholic religion and French law into the +interior valley under despotic government, was regarded as scarcely +less sinister than the Regulating Act itself. + +Under the efficient organization of the leaders a Continental Congress +met in Philadelphia in October, 1774, to make united {57} protest. +This body, comprising without exception the most influential men in the +colonies, presented a clear contrast to Parliament in that every man +was the representative of a community of freemen, self-governing and +equal before the law. The leaders did not regard themselves in any +sense as revolutionaries. They were simply delegates from the separate +colonies, met to confer on their common dangers. Their action +consisted in the preparation of a petition to the King, addresses to +the people of England, the people of Quebec, and the people of the +colonies, but not to Parliament, since they denied its right to pass +any such laws as those under complaint. The Congress further drew up a +declaration of rights which stated sharply the colonial claims, namely, +that Parliament had no right to legislate for the internal affairs of +the separate colonies. It also adopted a plan for putting commercial +pressure on England by forming an Association whose members pledged +themselves to consume no English products, and organize committees in +every colony to enforce this boycott. The leaders in the body were +destined to long careers of public prominence--such men as George +Washington, Lee, and Patrick Henry of Virginia, Rutledge of South +Carolina, Dickinson of Pennsylvania, Jay of New York, Samuel and John +Adams of {58} Massachusetts. They differed considerably in their +temper, the Massachusetts men being far more ready for drastic words +and deeds than the others; but they held together admirably. If such +protests as theirs could not win a hearing in England, it was hardly +conceivable that any could. + +Meanwhile the situation gave signs of being more explosive in reality +than the respectful words of the Congress implied. In Massachusetts, +the town of Boston showed no sign of submitting, and endured distress +and actual starvation, although much cheered by gifts of food from all +parts of the continent. The new government under the Regulating Act +proved impossible to put into operation, for the popular detestation +was visited in such insulting and menacing forms that the new +councillors and judges dared not serve. More radical action followed. +When Gage, having caused the election of a legislature, prorogued it +before it had assembled, the members none the less gathered. Declaring +that the Regulating Act was invalid, they elected a council, appointed +a committee of safety, and named a receiver of taxes. On February 1, +1775, a second Provincial Congress was chosen by the towns, which had +not even a nominal sanction by the governor. The colony was, in fact, +in peaceful revolution, for Gage found himself unable to collect {59} +taxes or to make his authority respected as governor beyond the range +of his bayonets. Equally significant was it that in several other +colonies, where the governors failed to call the legislatures, +provincial congresses or conventions were spontaneously elected to +supervise the situation and choose delegates to the Continental +Congress. + +So deep was the popular anger in Massachusetts Bay that the collection +of arms and powder and the organization of militia were rapidly begun. +Clearly, the Massachusetts leaders were preparing to persist to the +verge of civil war. But by this time there began to be felt in the +colonies a countercurrent of protest. As the situation grew darker, +and men talked openly of possible separation unless the intolerable +wrongs were redressed, all those whose interests or whose loyalty +revolted at the idea of civil war became alarmed at the danger. Soon +men of such minds began to print pamphlets, according to the fashion of +the time, and to attempt to prevent the radicals from pushing the +colonies into seditious courses. But the position of these +conservatives was exceedingly difficult, for they were obliged to +apologize for the home country at a time when every act on the part of +that country indicated a complete indifference to colonial prejudices. +Their arguments against {60} revolution or independence left, after +all, no alternative except submission. Denounced as Tories by the +hotter radicals, they found themselves at once more and more alarmed by +the daring actions of the Whigs, and more detested by the excited +people of their communities. + +The action of the British government after these events showed no +comprehension of the critical situation into which they were rushing. +George III and North secured in the election of 1774 a triumphant +majority of the Commons, and felt themselves beyond reach of danger at +home. The arguments of the colonists, the protests of the Continental +Congress, fell upon indifferent ears. Although Burke and Chatham +exerted themselves with astonishing eloquence in the session of +Parliament which began in November 1774, the Whig motions for +conciliation were voted down by the full Ministerial majority. +Petitions from merchants, who felt the pressure of the Non-importation +Association, were shelved. So far as the policy of the Ministry may be +described, it consisted of legislation to increase the punishment of +Massachusetts Bay and extend it to other colonies, and to offer a +conditional exemption from Parliamentary taxation. Both houses of +Parliament declared Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion, and voted to +{61} crush all resistance. An Act was passed on March 30, to restrain +the trade of New England, shutting off all colonial vessels from the +fisheries, and forbidding them to trade with any country but England or +Ireland. By a second Act, in April, this restriction was extended to +all the colonies except New York and Georgia. The only purpose of this +Act was punitive. Every step was fought by the Whig opposition, now +thoroughly committed to the cause of the colonists, but their arguments +had the inherent weakness of offering only a surrender to the +colonists' position which the parliamentary majority was in no mood to +consider. In fact it was only with great difficulty and after a stormy +scene that North induced his party to vote a so-called conciliatory +proposition offering to abstain from taxing any colony which should +make such a fixed provision for civil and judicial officers as would +satisfy Parliament. + +It was only a few days after the passage of the restraining Acts by +Parliament that the long-threatened civil war actually broke out in +Massachusetts. General Gage, aware of the steady gathering of powder +and war material by the revolutionary committee of safety, finally came +to the conclusion that his position required him to break up these +threatening bases of supplies. On April 19, 1775, he sent out a force +of 800 men to {62} Lexington and Concord--towns a few miles from +Boston--with orders to seize or destroy provisions and arms. They +accomplished their purpose, after dispersing with musketry a squad of +farmers at Lexington, but were hunted back to Boston by many times +their number of excited "minute men," who from behind fences and at +every crossroad harassed their retreat. A reinforcement of 1500 men +enabled the raiding party to escape, but they lost over 800 men, and +inflicted a total loss of only 90 in their flight. + +Thus began the American Revolution, for the news of this day of bloody +skirmishing, as it spread, started into flame the excitement of the +colonial Whigs. From the other New England colonies men sprang to +arms, and companies marched to Boston, where they remained in rude +blockade outside the town, unprovided with artillery or military +organization, but unwilling to return to their homes. From the +hill-towns, a band of men surprised Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, +taking the cannon for use around Boston. In every other colony militia +were organized, officers chosen and arms collected, and almost +everywhere, except in Quaker Pennsylvania and in proprietary Maryland, +the governors and royal officials fled to the seacoast to take refuge +in royal ships of war, or resigned their positions at the command {63} +of crowds of armed "minute men." Conventions and congresses, summoned +by committees of safety, were elected by the Whigs and assumed control +of the colonies, following the example of Massachusetts. The British +colonial government, in short, crumbled to nothing in the spring of +1775. Only Gage's force of a few regiments, shut up in Boston, and a +few naval vessels, represented the authority of England in America. + +Again there met a Continental Congress at Philadelphia, whose duty it +was to unify colonial action and to give the colonial answer to the +late parliamentary acts. Once more the ablest men of the colonies were +present, now gravely perturbed over the situation, and divided into two +camps. On the one hand, most of the New Englanders, led by Samuel +Adams and John Adams, his cousin, felt that the time for parley was at +an end, that nothing was to be hoped for from the North Ministry, and +that the only reasonable step was to declare independence. Others +still hoped that George III would realize the extent of the crisis and +be moved to concessions, while yet others, who hoped little, thought +that one more effort should be made to avoid revolution. But none +dreamed of surrender. Of the growing number of Americans who recoiled +in horror from {64} the possibility of independence, and were beginning +to show their dread in every way, not one was in this body. It +represented only the radicals in the several colonies. + +The Congress has been charged with inconsistency, for some of its +measures were impelled by the most radical members, others by the +conservatives. On the one hand, it declined to adopt a form of +federation suggested by Franklin, and authorized Dickinson to draw up a +final, respectful, almost obsequious petition to the King to avoid +war--a document called the "Olive Branch"; but, on the other hand, it +appointed Washington to command the troops near Boston as a Continental +commander, adopted a report censuring the conciliatory proposition in +bold language, and issued an address justifying with extravagant +rhetoric the taking up of arms. Still more daring, it went so far as +to arrange to pay the so-called "Continental army" by means of bills of +credit, redeemable by the united colonies. Later, in 1775, it +appointed a secret committee to correspond with friends abroad, and +undertook extensive measures for raising troops and accumulating +military stores. To the revolted colonies, who found themselves with +no legal authorities, it gave the advice to form such governments as +would secure peace and good order during the continuance {65} of the +existing dispute, a step which was promptly taken by several. + +Fighting meanwhile went on. General Gage, on June 17, undertook to +drive from Charlestown, across the harbour from Boston, a body of about +1,500 provincial troops who had intrenched themselves on Breed's Hill. +In all, about 3,000 British were brought to the attack, while gunboats +raked the peninsula between Charlestown and the mainland, hindering the +arrival of reinforcements. With true British contempt for their +adversaries, the lines of red-uniformed troops marched under the hot +sun up the hill, to be met with a merciless fire at short range from +the rifles, muskets, and fowling pieces of the defenders. Two frontal +attacks were thus repelled with murderous slaughter; but a third +attack, delivered over the same ground, was pushed home, and the +defenders were driven from their redoubt. Never was a victory more +handsomely won or more dearly bought. The assailants lost not less +than 1,000 out of 3,000 engaged, including 92 officers. The Americans +lost only 450, but that was almost as large a proportion. It was +obvious to any intelligent officer that the Americans might have been +cut off from behind and compelled to surrender without being attacked; +but Gage and his subordinates were anxious to teach the rebels a +lesson. The {66} result of this action, known in history as "Bunker +Hill," was to render him and nearly all the officers who served against +Americans unwilling ever again to storm intrenchments. They discovered +that, as Putnam, who commanded part of the forces, observed, the +militia would fight well if their legs were covered. They were later +to discover the converse, that with no protection militia were almost +useless. + +From this time the British force remained quietly in Boston, fed and +supplied from England at immense cost, and making no effort to attack +the miscellaneous levies which General Washington undertook to form +into an army during the summer and autumn. Nothing but the inaction of +the British made it possible for Washington's command to remain, for +they lacked powder, bayonets, horses and, most serious of all, they +lacked all military conceptions. The elementary idea of obedience was +inconceivable to them. Washington's irritation over the perfectly +unconcerned democracy of the New Englanders was extreme; but he showed +a wonderful patience and tenacity, and by sheer persistence began to +create something like a military organization. Yet, even after months +of drill and work the army remained little more than an armed mob. At +length, in March, 1776, Washington managed to {67} place a force on +Dorchester heights, which commanded the harbour from the south. At +first Gage had some idea of attacking, but storms intervened; and +finally, without another blow, he evacuated the city and sailed with +all his force to Halifax. So ended a siege which ought never to have +lasted a month had the British generals been seriously minded to break +it up. + +Other military events consisted of a few skirmishes in Virginia and +North Carolina, where the governors managed to raise small forces of +loyalists, who were thoroughly defeated by the Whig militia, and of a +gallant but hopeless attempt by the rebels to capture Canada. After +some futile efforts on the part of Congress to induce the French to +revolt, two bodies of men, in the autumn of 1775, made their way across +the border. One, entering Canada by way of Lake Champlain, occupied +Montreal, and then advanced against Quebec, where it was joined by the +other, which, with great hardships, had penetrated through the +wilderness of northern Maine. The commanders, Richard Montgomery, +Benedict Arnold, and Daniel Morgan of Virginia, were men of daring, but +their force, numbering not more than 1,000, was inadequate; and, after +the failure of an effort to carry the place by surprise on the night of +December 31--in which Montgomery was {68} killed and Morgan +captured--they were unable to do more than maintain a blockade outside +the fortress. + +The action of the North Ministry during these months showed no +deviation from its policy of enforcing submission. The Olive Branch +petition was refused a reception, and a proclamation was issued +declaring the colonies in rebellion and warning all subjects against +traitorous correspondence. When Parliament met in November, 1775, the +opposition, led as usual by Burke, made one more effort to avoid civil +war; but the Ministerial party rejected all proposals for conciliation, +and devoted itself to preparing to crush the rebellion. On December +22, an Act became law which, if enforced, would have been a sentence of +death to all colonial economic life. It superseded the Boston Port Act +and the restraining Acts, absolutely prohibited all commerce with the +revolted colonies, and authorized the impressment into the navy of all +seamen found on vessels captured under the Act. + +Military and naval preparations were slow and costly. The Admiralty +and War Office, unprepared for a general war, had insufficient troops +and sailors, and had to collect or create supplies and equipment. The +Earl of Sandwich showed activity but slight capacity as First Lord of +the Admiralty. Viscount {69} Barrington had been Secretary at War +under Pitt during the French war, but he lacked force and influence. +Hence, although Parliament voted 50,000 troops, there was confusion and +delay. To secure a prompt supply of men, the Ministry took the step of +hiring German mercenaries from the lesser Rhine princes--Hesse, +Waldeck, and others,--at a rate per head with a fixed sum for deaths. +This practice was customary in wars when England was obliged to protect +Hanover from the French; but to use the same method against their own +kindred in America was looked upon with aversion by many English, and +aroused ungovernable indignation in all Americans. It seemed to show a +callousness toward all ties of blood and speech which rendered any hope +of reconciliation futile. The war was not, in fact, popular in +England. The task of conquering rebels was not relished by many, and +officers and noblemen of Whig connections in some cases resigned their +commissions rather than serve. The parliamentary opposition denounced +the war with fiery zeal as an iniquity and a scandal. Nevertheless, +the general opinion in England supported the Ministry in its +determination to assert the national strength; for the colonial +behaviour seemed to the average Englishman as nothing more or less than +impudent sedition, to yield to which would be disgrace. + +{70} + +To the Americans, the British action in 1776 showed that the only +alternatives were submission or fighting; and, if the latter must be +chosen, then it was the feeling of a growing number that independence +was the only outcome. There now went on a contest between +conservatives, including on one side those who opposed all civil war, +those who were willing to fight to defend rights but who were unwilling +to abandon hopes of forcing England to surrender its claims, and those +whose businesses and connections were closely interwoven with the +mother country and all the radicals on the other. Unfortunately for +the conservatives they had only fear, or sentiment, for arguments, +since the North Ministry gave them nothing to urge upon doubtful men. +Still more unfortunately, they were, as a rule, outside the +revolutionary organizations of conventions and committees, and were +themselves without means of co-operating. + +In the excitement and tension of the time, the ruder and rougher +classes tended to regard all reluctance to join in the revolution as +equivalent to upholding the North policy, and to attack as Tories all +who did not heartily support the revolutionary cause. Violence and +intimidation rapidly made themselves felt. Loyalists were threatened, +forced by mobs to sign the Association; their houses {71} were defiled, +their movements watched. Then [Transcriber's note: Their?] arms were +taken from them, and if they showed anger or temper they were +occasionally whipped or even tarred and feathered. In this way a +determined minority backed by the poorer and rougher classes, overrode +all opposition and swelled a rising cry for independence. + +The Congress was slow, for it felt the need of unanimity; and such +colonies as New York and Pennsylvania were controlled by moderates. +But at length, in June, 1776, spurred on by the Virginia delegates and +by the tireless urgings of the Massachusetts leaders, the body acted. +Already some of the colonies had adopted constitutions whose language +indicated their independence. Now the Continental Congress, after a +final debate, adopted a Declaration of Independence, drafted by +Jefferson of Virginia and supported by the eloquence of John Adams and +the influence of Franklin. Basing their position on the doctrines of +the natural right of men to exercise full self-government and to change +their form of government when it became oppressive, the colonies, in +this famous document, imitated the English Declaration of Rights of +1689 in drawing up a bill of indictment against George III's +government. In this can be discovered every cause of resentment and +every variety of {72} complaint which the thirteen colonies were ready +to put forward. Practically all were political. There were allusions +in plenty to the wrangles between governors and assemblies, +denunciations of the parliamentary taxes and the coercing Acts, but no +reference to the Acts of Trade. To the end, the colonists, even in the +act of declaring independence, found their grievances in the field of +government and not in economic regulation. What they wanted was the +unrestricted power to legislate for themselves and to tax or refrain +from taxing themselves. When these powers were diminished, their whole +political ideal was ruined, and they preferred independence to what +they considered servitude. Such ideas were beyond the comprehension of +most Englishmen, to whom the whole thing was plain disloyalty, however +cloaked in specious words and glittering generalities. + +It has been said that the rupture was due to a spirit of independence +in America which, in spite of all disclaimers, was determined to be +entirely free from the mother country. Such was the assertion of the +Tories and officials of the time, and the same idea is not infrequently +repeated at the present day. But the truth is that the colonists would +have been contented to remain indefinitely in union with England, +subjects of the British {73} crown, sharers of the British commercial +empire, provided they could have been sure of complete local +self-government. The independence they demanded was far less than that +now enjoyed by the great colonial unions of Canada, Australia, and +South Africa. It may be assumed, of course, that unless Parliament +exercised complete authority over internal as well as external +matters--to employ the then customary distinction--there was no real +imperial bond. Such was the position unanimously taken by the North +Ministry and the Tories in 1776. But in view of the subsequent history +of the English colonies it seems hardly deniable that some relationship +similar to the existing colonial one might have been perpetuated had +the Whig policy advocated by Burke been adopted, and the right of +Parliament "to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever" been allowed +to drop, in practice. The obstinate localism of the colonies was such +that not until a generation after the Revolution did a genuine American +national sentiment appear. The colonies were driven to act together in +1774-1776, but not to fuse, by a danger not to national but to local +independence. This fact indicates how sharply defined was the field +which the Americans insisted on having free from parliamentary +invasion. Had it been possible for England {74} to recognize this +fact, there would have been no revolution. + +It is, of course, obvious that the traditional American view of the +Revolution as caused by tyranny and oppression is symbolical, if not +fictitious. The British government, in all its measures, from 1763 to +1774, was moderate, hesitating, and at worst irritating. Its action +threatened to destroy the practical independence of the colonial +assemblies; but the danger was political. Even the five "intolerable +Acts" inflicted hardship on the town of Boston alone. It was not until +the year 1775, when Parliament imposed severe commercial restrictions, +that anything resembling actual oppression began; but by that time the +colonies were in open revolt. + +This fact only emphasizes, as Burke pointed out, the criminal folly of +the North Ministry in allowing the situation to become dangerous. It +was the misfortune of the British people in the eighteenth century +that, in the critical years after 1767, George III and his Ministers +were unable to conceive of any value in colonies which were not in the +full sense dependencies, and were narrowly limited by the economic +ideas of their time and the social conventions of their class. Since +the colonies had developed, unchecked, their own political life under +British government, it was not their duty humbly to {75} surrender all +that had come to be identical with liberty in their eyes. It was the +duty of British statesmen to recognize the situation and deal with it. +This they failed to do, and the result was revolution. + + + + +{75} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CIVIL WAR IN THE EMPIRE, 1776-1778 + +In the war which now began, the military situation was such that +neither side could look forward to an easy victory. Great Britain +outweighed the colonies in population by three or four to one, and in +every element of military strength to a much greater degree. There was +a standing army, an ample sufficiency of professional officers, the +most powerful navy in the world, the full machinery of financial +administration, abundant credit, and wealthy manufacturing and +agricultural classes which has already shown their power to carry the +burdens of a world contest without flinching. With a powerful party +Ministry endowed with full discretion in the ordering of military +affairs, there was little danger of divided {76} councils or of +inability to secure responsible direction. North, Sandwich at the +Admiralty, Barrington as Secretary at War, Germaine as Secretary for +the Colonies, could command the active support of the King, the +Parliament, and, it appeared, of the people. + +On the other hand, it was necessary to carry on war at 3,000 miles +distance from the base of supplies, and to feed and clothe the armies +entirely from home. The cost was certain to be extremely heavy, and +the practical difficulties of management arising from the distance were +sure to be great, unless a competent commander were to be given +complete authority in the colonies. Then, too, the problem was not one +of conquering cities or single strategic points, or of defeating a +rival state, but of so thoroughly beating down resistance as to lead +the Americans to abandon their revolution and submit to the extinction +of their new-formed confederation. Armies must operate inland from a +seacoast where landing was easy in hundreds of places, but where almost +every step took them into a rough country, ill-provided with roads and +lacking in easily collected supplies. In spite of all advantages of +military power, the problem before the British government was one +calling for the highest forms of military capacity, and this, by an +unexplained ill-fortune, was conspicuously {77} lacking. Not a British +general who commanded in America failed to show fighting ability and +tactical sense, but not one of them possessed the kind of genius which +grasps the true military ends of any campaign and ignores minor points +for the sake of winning decisive advantages. Perhaps it would be +unjust to apply to the British forces in this war the designation won +in 1774--"armies of lions led by asses"; but the analogy is at least +suggested. + +Still more serious was the fact that the North Ministry was chosen +mainly on the basis of the willingness of its members to execute the +King's orders and use their influence and parliamentary power and +connections in his behalf. North himself, able as a parliamentarian, +was irresolute in policy, ignorant of war, and careless in +administration; Weymouth and Suffolk, the Secretaries, were of slight +ability; Lord George Germaine, Secretary for the Colonies, was +arrogant, careless, and lacking in military insight; Barrington, +Secretary at War, possessed administrative ability, but was without +personal weight in the cabinet; Sandwich at the Admiralty was grossly +inefficient. There was not a single member of the Cabinet fitted to +carry on war, or able to influence George III. For such a body of men +to undertake to direct the operations in America {78} at the distance +of 3,000 miles was a worse blunder than it would have been to commit +the conduct of the war to any one of the generals in the field, however +commonplace his abilities. + +On the side of the colonists, the problem of fighting the full power of +England was apparently a desperate one. The militia, with superior +numbers, had chased the British from Concord, and had made a stubborn +defence at Bunker Hill; but the British were about to move with +overwhelming strength. To raise, equip, clothe, and feed armies was +the task of a strong administration, and there was nothing of the kind +in America. The ex-colonists not only had never known efficient +administration; they had fought against any and all administration for +generations, and their leaders had won their fame as opponents of all +executive power. To thunder against royal oppression won applause, but +indicated no ability at raising money and organizing such things as +commissariat, artillery, or a navy; and it may be said of such men as +Samuel Adams, Robert Morris, Roger Sherman, John Rutledge, Patrick +Henry, and Thomas Jefferson that their administrative training was as +far below that of their enemies in the North Ministry as their +political capacity was, in general, superior. + +{79} + +The Continental Congress, moreover, which assumed responsibility for +the army, could only recommend measures to the States, and call upon +them to furnish troops and money. In contrast to the States, which +derived their powers unquestionably from the voters within their +boundaries and could command their obedience, the Congress had no legal +or constitutional basis, and was nothing more than the meeting place of +delegates from voluntary allies. Such military authority as it +exercised rested entirely upon the general agreement of the States. +National government, in short, did not exist. Still more serious was +the fact that there were very few trained officers in America. The +American military leaders, such as Washington, Greene, Wayne, Sullivan, +were distinctly inferior in soldiership to their antagonists, although +Washington and Greene developed greater strategic ability after many +blunders. It was only through sundry military adventurers, some +English--such as Montgomery, Gates, Lee, Conway,--others European--such +as De Kalb, Steuben, Pulaski--that something of the military art could +be acquired. + +Most serious of all, there were no troops in America who comprehended +the nature of military discipline. The conception of obedience to +orders, of military duty, of the {80} absolute necessity of holding +steady, was beyond the range of most Americans. They regarded war as +something to be carried on in their own neighbourhoods, and resisted +obstinately being drawn outside their own States. They refused to +enlist for longer than a few months, since they felt it imperative to +return to look after their farms. They had little regard for men from +different districts, distrusted commanders from any State but their +own, and had no loyalty of any description to the Continental Congress. +They were, in short, still colonists, such as generations of training +had made them; very angry with Great Britain, infuriated at Tories, and +glad to be independent, but unable to realize the meaning of it all +even under the terrible stress of war. + +Under the circumstances, the task of the men to whose lot it fell to +lead the American forces was such as to tax to the utmost not only +their military skill, but their ability to control, inspire, and +persuade the most refractory and unreliable of material. When to this +were added the facts that the colonies were almost wholly lacking in +manufactures except of the most rudimentary sort, that they had little +capital except in the form of land, buildings, vessels, and crops, and +that whatever revenue they had been in the habit of deriving from +commerce was {81} liable to be destroyed by the British naval +supremacy, it is easily seen that the disadvantages of the home country +were actually counterbalanced by the still more crushing disadvantages +of the revolting colonies. + +In the summer of 1776, the British advanced from two quarters. In the +north, as soon as navigation opened, men-of-war sailed up the St. +Lawrence and brought reinforcements to Quebec. The relics of the +American force, unable to maintain themselves in Canada, abandoned +their conquests without a blow, and retreated into the Lake Champlain +region, there intending to hold the forts at Crown Point and +Ticonderoga. Col. Guy Carleton, the new commander, was soon able to +move southward with overwhelming numbers; but, after reaching the +northern end of Lake Champlain, he found that body of water commanded +by a small squadron of gunboats under Benedict Arnold, and, deeming it +impossible to advance, delayed all summer in order to construct a rival +fleet. Meanwhile, all operations came to a standstill in that region. +Eleven thousand men, chiefly regular troops, were thus kept inactive +for months. + +The principal British force gathered at Halifax, and sailed directly +against New York. It was there joined by the remains of a naval +expedition which had endeavoured in June, {82} 1776, to capture +Charleston, South Carolina, but had suffered severely in an attempt to +bombard Fort Moultrie and been compelled to withdraw. This success, +which raised the spirits of the rebels, was, however, the last they +were to enjoy for many months. The main British expedition was +expected to overpower all colonial resistance, for it comprised a fleet +of men-of-war, and an army of no less than 81,000 men, including German +mercenaries, fully equipped, drilled, and provisioned. The admiral in +command, Lord Howe, a Whig, was authorized to issue pardons in return +for submission, and evidently expected the mere presence of so powerful +an armament to cause the collapse of all resistance. His brother, Sir +William Howe, who commanded the army, was a good officer in actual +fighting, but a man of little energy or activity, and unwilling, +apparently, to cause the revolted colonies any more suffering than was +necessary. He was, moreover, quite without military insight of the +larger kind, failing to recognize the peculiar character of the war +upon which he was entering and acting, when pushing on a campaign, +precisely as though he were operating against a European army in west +Germany. + +In spite of all deficiencies, it seemed as though Howe could not fail +to crush the {83} undisciplined collection of 17,000 militia and minute +men with which Washington endeavoured to meet him at New York. +Controlling the harbour and the rivers with his fleet, he could move +anywhere and direct superior numbers against any American position. +The first blow, struck after futile efforts at negotiation, was aimed +at an American force which held Brooklyn Heights on Long Island. About +20,000 British and Hessian troops were landed on August 22; and five +days later they outflanked and crushed a body of Americans placed to +obstruct their advance. There remained the American intrenchments, +which were weak and ill-defended; but Howe refused to attack, probably +with memories of Bunker Hill in his mind. Washington managed, owing to +favourable rainy weather, to remove his beaten force by night on August +29, but only the inaction of Howe enabled them to escape capture. + +There followed a delay of two weeks, during which Admiral Howe +tried to secure an interview with American leaders, in hopes of +inducing the rebels to submit; but, finding Franklin, Adams and +Rutledge--commissioners named by Congress--immovably committed to +independence, he was compelled to renew hostilities. There ensued a +slow campaign in which General Howe easily {84} forced Washington to +evacuate New York, to retreat northward, and after various skirmishes +to withdraw over the Hudson River into New Jersey. At no time did +Washington risk a general engagement; at no time did he inflict any +significant loss upon his antagonist or hinder his advance. The +militia were, in fact, almost useless in the open field, and only dared +linger before the oncoming redcoats when intrenched or when behind +walls and fences. Many of them from New England grew discouraged and +homesick, and left the moment their short enlistments expired; so that +without any serious battles Washington's so-called army dwindled week +by week. On November 16, a severe loss was incurred through the effort +of General Greene to hold Fort Washington, which commanded the Hudson +River from the heights at the northern end of Manhattan Island. This +stronghold, besieged by Howe, made a fair defence, but was taken by +storm, and the whole garrison captured. The American army then, in two +detachments under Washington and Lee respectively, was obliged to +retreat across New Jersey, followed by the British under Cornwallis, +until, by December 8, the remnant was at Philadelphia in a state of +great discouragement and demoralization. The Continental Congress, +fearing capture, fled to Baltimore and, moved to {85} desperate +measures, passed a resolution, giving Washington for six months +unlimited authority to raise recruits, appoint and dismiss officers, +impress provisions, and arrest loyalists. Howe felt that the rebellion +was at an end. On November 30 he issued a proclamation offering pardon +to all who would take the oath of allegiance within sixty days; and +farmers in New Jersey took it by hundreds, securing in return a +certificate of loyalty. The rebels' cause seemed lost. But at the +moment when, if ever, it was worth while to push pursuit to the +uttermost, with the prospect of reducing three colonies and breaking up +all show of resistance, Howe, satisfied with his campaign, began to +prepare winter quarters. + +To the northward, a similar fatality seemed to prevent full British +success. During the summer, General Guy Carleton waited at the +northern end of Lake Champlain while his carpenters built gunboats. +Month after month went by until, on October 11, the British vessels +engaged Arnold's inferior flotilla. Two days of hot fighting with +musketry and cannon resulted in the destruction of the American +squadron, so that the way seemed clear for Carleton to advance; but the +season was late, the difficulties of getting provisions from Canada +seemed excessive, and on November 2 the British {86} withdrew. Here +again only extreme caution and slowness permitted the colonial army to +hold its ground. Yet it seemed doubtful whether the American cause +might not collapse even without further pressure, for the "armies" were +almost gone by sheer disintegration. General Schuyler had a scanty +3,000 near Lake Champlain; Washington could not muster over 6,000 at +Philadelphia, and these were on the points of going home. The attempt +to carry on the war by voluntary militia fighting was a visible failure. + +At this stage, the darkest hour, Washington, who had never dared to +risk a battle, took the bold step of re-crossing the Delaware with part +of his half-starved and shivering troops, and captured nearly all of a +Hessian encampment at Trenton on December 25. Further, he drew on +Cornwallis to advance against him, skirmished successfully on January +2, and then, moving by a night march to the British rear, defeated a +regiment at Princeton. Cornwallis, with 7,000 men, was out-generalled +by Washington in this affair, which was the first really aggressive +blow struck by the Americans. The result was to lead Howe to abandon +the effort to hold all of New Jersey; while Washington was able to post +his men in winter quarters at Morristown, where he could watch every +British move. This masterly {87} little campaign, carried on under +every disadvantage, made Washington's fame secure, and undoubtedly +saved the American revolution from breaking down. It revived the +fighting spirit, encouraged the Congress and the people, and created a +faith in Washington on the part of the soldiers and farmers which was +destined to grow steadily into love and veneration. With no particular +military insight beyond common sense and the comprehension of military +virtues, he was a man of iron will, extreme personal courage, and a +patience and tenacity which had no limit. + +Congress now showed that its members realized in part the military +lesson, for it authorized a standing regular army, and gave Washington +power to establish it and appoint lower officers. It was a hard task +to induce any Americans to enlist in such an organization; but little +by little there were collected "Continental troops" who did not rush +back to their family duties at the end of three months, but stayed and +grew in discipline and steadiness. Yet Washington could never count on +more than a few thousand such; Americans in general simply would not +fight except under pressure of invasion and in defence of their homes. + +During 1776-7, the revolted communities assumed something of the +appearance of settled governments. The States replaced {88} their +revolutionary conventions with constitutions closely modelled upon +their provincial institutions, but with elective governors, and, to +safeguard liberty, full control over legislation, taxation, and most +offices placed in the hands of the legislatures. Executive power was +confined mainly to military matters. The Continental Congress +continued to act as a grand committee of safety, framing +recommendations and requests to the States, and issuing paper money on +the credit of its constituents. Military administration proved a task +beyond the capacity of the new governments, even for such diminutive +armies as those which guarded the northern frontier and New Jersey, and +the forces suffered from lack of food, covering, and powder. The +country had few sources of supplies and wretched roads. + +In 1777, when spring opened, the British armies slowly prepared to push +matters to a definite conclusion. The North Cabinet, especially Lord +George Germaine, had no single coherent plan of operations beyond +continuing the lines laid down in 1776. It was early planned to have +the Canadian force march southward and join Howe, collecting supplies +and gathering recruits as it traversed New York. Howe was told that he +was expected to co-operate, but was not prevented from substituting a +plan of his {89} own which involved capturing Philadelphia, the chief +American town and, as the seat of the Continental Congress, the "rebel +capital." Germaine merely intimated that Howe ought to make such +speedy work as to return in time to meet the Canadian force, but did +not give him any positive order, so Howe considered his plan approved. +In leisurely fashion he tried twice to march across New Jersey in June; +but, although he had 17,000 to Washington's 8,000, he would not risk +leaving the latter in his rear and withdrew. He next determined to +move by water, and began the sea journey on July 5. This process +occupied not less than six weeks, since he first tried to sail up the +Delaware, only to withdraw from before the American forts; and it was +not until August 22 that he finally landed his men at the head of +Chesapeake Bay. + +Meanwhile, General Burgoyne, a man of fashion as well as an officer, +had begun his march southward from Lake Champlain with 7,500 men and +some Indian allies, forced the Americans to evacuate Fort Ticonderoga +without a blow, and chased the garrison to the southward and eastward. +Pushing forward in spite of blocked roads and burned bridges, he +reached the Hudson River on August 1 without mishap, and there halted +to collect provisions and await {90} reinforcements from Tories and +from a converging expedition under St. Leger, which was to join him by +way of Lake Ontario and the Mohawk Valley. Up to this time the +American defence had been futile. It seemed as though nothing could +stop Burgoyne's advance. Congress now appointed a new general, Gates, +to whom Washington sent General Morgan with some of his best troops. +While Burgoyne waited, the militia of New England began collecting, and +presently, on August 15 and 16, two detachments of the British sent to +seize stores at Bennington were surrounded and captured. St. Leger, +unable to manage his Indian allies, or force the surrender of the +American Fort Stanwix, was obliged, on August 22, to retreat. +Burgoyne, with diminishing numbers and no hope of reinforcement, found +himself confronted by rapidly growing swarms of enemies. At the moment +when his need of co-operation from Howe became acute, the latter +general was two hundred miles away in Pennsylvania. + +Under the circumstances, the two campaigns worked themselves out to +independent conclusions. In Pennsylvania, Washington boldly marched +his summer army with its nucleous of veterans out to meet the British, +and challenged a battle along the banks of the Brandywine creek. On +September 11, Howe, with 18,000 men, methodically attacked {91} +Washington, who had not over 11,000, sent a flanking column around his +right wing, and after a stiff resistance pushed the Americans from the +field. There was no pursuit; and four days later Washington was +prevented only by bad weather from risking another fight. He did not +feel able to prevent Howe from entering Philadelphia on September 27; +but on October 3, taking advantage of a division of the British army, +he assumed the offensive at Germantown and brought his unsteady forces +into action, only to suffer another defeat. With this Washington was +forced to abandon operations in the field and to go into winter +quarters at Valley Forge, not far from the city; while Howe besieged +and on November 2 took the American forts on the Delaware. The British +campaign was successful; Philadelphia was theirs, and they had won +every engagement. But nothing shows more clearly Washington's ability +as a fighter and leader than his stubborn contest against odds in this +summer. + +Meanwhile, the Northern campaign came to its conclusion. By September, +Gates, the new commander, found himself at the head of nearly 20,000 +men, and Burgoyne's case grew desperate. He made two efforts to break +through to the southward, at Freeman's Farm, and again at Bemis +Heights, but was {92} met by superior numbers and overwhelmed, in spite +of the gallantry of his troops. Forced back to Saratoga on the Hudson +River, he was surrounded and at length compelled to surrender, on +October 17. Sir Henry Clinton, who commanded the British garrison of +New York in Howe's absence, sent a small expedition up the Hudson; but +it did not penetrate nearer than sixty miles from the spot where +Burgoyne stood at bay, and it achieved nothing more than a raid. So +the northern British force, sent to perform an impossible task, was +destroyed solely because neither Howe nor his superiors realized the +necessity of providing for certain co-operation from the southward. +The prisoners, according to the terms of the surrender, were to be +returned to England; but Congress, owing in part to some complaints of +Burgoyne, chose to violate the agreement, and the captive British and +Hessians were retained. Burgoyne himself returned to England, burning +with anger against Howe and the North Ministry. + +The winter of 1777-8 found the two British armies comfortably housed in +New York and Philadelphia, and Washington, with his handful of +miserably equipped men, presenting the skeleton of an army at Valley +Forge. Congress, now manned by less able leaders than at first, was +almost won over to {93} displacing the unsuccessful commander by Gates, +the victor of Saratoga; and it did go so far as to commit the +administration of the army to a cabal of Gates's friends, who carried +on a campaign of depreciation and backbiting against Washington. But +the whole unworthy plot broke down under a few vigorous words from the +latter, the would-be rival quailing before the Virginian's personal +authority. He was not a safe man to bait. The military headship +remained securely with the one general capable of holding things +together. + +In the winter of 1778, however, a new element entered the game, namely, +the possibility of French intervention. From the outbreak of the +Revolution, very many Americans saw that their former deadly enemy, +France, would be likely to prove an ally against England; and as early +as 1776 American emissaries began to sound the court of Versailles. In +March, 1776, Silas Deane was regularly commissioned by the Continental +Congress, and in the autumn he was followed by no less a person than +Benjamin Franklin. It was the duty of these men to get whatever aid +they could, especially to seek an alliance. The young king, Louis XVI, +was not a man of any independent statecraft; but his ministers, above +all Vergennes, in charge of foreign affairs, were anxious to secure +revenge {94} upon England for the damage done by Pitt, and the tone of +the French court was emphatically warlike. The financial weakness of +the French government, destined shortly to pave the way for the +Revolution, was clearly visible to Turgot, the Minister of Finances, +and he with a few others protested against the expense of a foreign +war; but Vergennes carried the day. + +As early as the summer of 1776, French arms and munitions were being +secretly supplied, while the Foreign Minister solemnly assured the +watchful Lord Stormont, the English Ambassador, of his government's +perfect neutrality. Thousands of muskets, hundreds of cannon, and +quantities of clothes were thus shipped, and sums of money were also +turned over to Franklin. Beaumarchais, the playwright and adventurer, +acted with gusto the part of intermediary; and the lords and ladies of +the French court, amusing themselves with "philosophy" and speculative +liberalism, made a pet of the witty and sagacious Franklin. His +popularity actually rivalled that of Voltaire when the latter, in 1778, +returned to see Paris and die. But not until the colonies had proved +that they could meet the English in battle with some prospect of +success would the French commit themselves openly; and during 1776 and +1777 the tide ran too steadily against {95} the insurgents. Finally, +in December, when the anxieties of Franklin and his associates were +almost unendurable, the news of Burgoyne's surrender was brought to +Paris. The turning-point was reached. Vergennes immediately led the +French King to make two treaties, one for commercial reciprocity, the +other a treaty of military alliance, recognizing the independence of +the United States, and pledging the countries to make no separate +peace. In the spring of 1778 the news reached America; and the war now +entered upon a second stage. + +There can be little doubt that under abler commanders the British +armies might have crushed out all armed resistance in the middle +colonies. In spite of all drawbacks, the trained British soldiers and +officers were so superior in the field to the American levies on every +occasion where the forces were not overwhelmingly unequal that it is +impossible for any but the most bigoted American partisan to deny this +possibility. Had there been a blockade, so that French and Dutch goods +would have been excluded; had General Howe possessed the faintest spark +of energy in following up his successes; had the North Cabinet not +failed to compel Howe to co-operate with Burgoyne, the condition of +things in 1778 might well have been so serious for the colonists' cause +that {96} Vergennes would have felt a French intervention to be +fruitless. In that case, it is hard to see how the rebellion could +have failed to be crushed in the next year. As it was, the Americans, +by luck and by the tenacity of Washington and a few other leaders, had +won the first victory. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FRENCH INTERVENTION AND BRITISH FAILURE, 1778-1781 + +During the two years of fighting, the party situation in England had +grown increasingly bitter. The Whigs, joined now by young Charles Fox, +unremittingly denounced the war as a crime, sympathized with the +rebels, and execrated the cruelty of the Ministers while deriding their +abilities. Parliament rang with vituperation; personal insults flew +back and forth. From time to time Chatham took part in the attack, +joining Burke and Fox in an opposition never surpassed for oratorical +power. But the Ministerial party, secure in its strength, pushed on +its way. The King now regarded the war as the issue {97} upon which he +had staked his personal honour, and would tolerate no faltering. Yet +in the winter of 1778 the rumours of a French alliance thickened; and, +when the probability seemed to be a certainty, North made a desperate +effort to end the war through a policy of granting everything except +independence. In a speech of incredible assurance, he observed that he +had never favoured trying to tax America, and brought in a Bill by +which every parliamentary measure complained of by the Americans was +repealed, and the right of internal taxation was expressly renounced. +Amid the dejection of the Tories and the sneers of the Whigs, this +measure became law, March 2, 1778; and commissioners, empowered to +grant general amnesty, were sent with it to the United States. + +At no other time in English history would it have been possible for a +Ministry thus utterly to reverse its policy and remain in office; but +North's tenure depended on influences outside the House of Commons, and +he continued in his place. So severe was the crisis that an effort was +made to arrange a coalition Ministry, with the aged Chatham at its +head; George III, however, positively refused to permit North to +surrender the first place. He would consent to Whigs entering the +Cabinet only in subordinate positions. This {98} obstinacy and the +sudden death of Chatham blocked all coalition proposals, and left the +war to continue as a party measure, not national in its character--the +"King's war." + +In America, the task of the commissioners proved hopeless. The men now +in control of the Continental Congress and the State governments were +pledged to independence from the bottom of their souls; and in the +course of months of appeals, and attempts at negotiations, the +commissioners failed to secure even a hearing. Congress ratified the +French treaties with enthusiasm. That their proposal if made before +the Declaration would have been successful can scarcely be doubted. It +might even have produced an effect after 1776 had it been made by a +Whig Ministry, headed by Chatham. But coming in 1778, after three +years of war, when every vestige of the former sentiment of loyalty was +dead, and offered by the same North Ministry which had brought on the +revolution, it was foredoomed to defeat. + +The war now entered upon a second phase, in which England found itself +harder pressed than at any time in its history. It had not an ally in +the world, and could count on no Rhine campaigns to exhaust French +resources. For the first time England engaged France in a purely naval +war; and for the only time France was sufficiently strong in +sail-of-the-line {99} to meet England on equal terms. The French +fleet, rebuilt since 1763, was in excellent condition; the British +navy, on the contrary, under the slack administration of Lord Sandwich, +was worse off in equipment, repairs, number of sailors, and _esprit de +corps_ than at any time in the century. The French were able to send +fleets unhindered wherever they wished; and when Spain entered as an +ally, in 1779, their combined navies swept the Channel, driving the +humiliated British fleet into port. England was called upon to make +defensive war at home, at Gibraltar, in the West Indies, and finally in +India, at a time when the full strength of the country was already +occupied with the rebellion. + +This led to an alteration of military methods in America. The policy +of moving heavy armies was abandoned; and the British, forced to +withdraw troops to garrison the West Indies and Florida, began the +practice of wearing down the revolted colonies by raids and destruction +of property. George III especially approved this punitive policy. As +a first step, the army in Philadelphia marched back to New York, +attacked on its retreat by Washington at Monmouth on June 27, 1778. +The American advance was badly handled by General Lee, and fell back +before the British; but Washington in person rallied his men, resumed +the attack, and held his position. {100} Clinton, who succeeded Howe, +continued his march, and the British army now settled down in New York, +not to depart from its safe protection except on raids. + +Washington accordingly posted his forces, as in 1777, outside the city, +and awaited events. He could assume the offensive only in case a +French fleet should assist him, and this happened but twice, in 1778, +and not again for three years. The first time, Admiral D'Estaing with +a strong fleet menaced New York and then Newport, the latter in +conjunction with an American land force. But before each port he was +foiled by the superior skill of Admiral Howe; and he finally withdrew +without risking a battle, to the intense disgust of the Americans. For +the rest, the war in the northern States dwindled to raids by the +British along the Connecticut coast and into New Jersey, and outpost +affairs on the Hudson, in some of which Washington's Continental troops +showed real brilliancy in attack. But with the British in command of +the sea little could be done to meet the raids, and southern +Connecticut was ravaged with fire and sword. + +At the same time, the States suffered the horrors of Indian war, since +the Tories and British from Canada utilized the Iroquois and the Ohio +Valley Indians as allies. The New York frontier was in continual +distress; {101} and the Pennsylvania and Maryland and Virginia +settlements felt the scalping knife and torch. Hamilton, the British +commander at the post of Detroit, paid a fixed price for scalps, and +was known as "the hair buyer." Against the Iroquois, Sullivan led an +expedition in 1779 which could not bring the savages to a decisive +battle, although he ravaged their lands and crippled their resources. +Against the north-western Indians, a daring Virginian, George Rogers +Clark, led a counter-raid which captured several posts in the territory +north of the Ohio River, and finally took Hamilton himself prisoner at +Vincennes. In every such war the sufferings of the settlers +outnumbered a hundred-fold all that they could inflict in return, and +this consciousness burned into their souls a lasting hatred of England, +the ally of the murdering, torturing devils from the forests. + +While the British fleets fought indecisive actions in European waters, +or near the West Indies, the British raiding policy was transferred to +a new region, namely, the southern States, which thus far had known +little of the severities of war. In December, 1778, an expedition +under Prevost easily occupied Savannah, driving the Georgia militia +away. The next year an effort was made by an American force, in +combination with the French fleet under D'Estaing, who returned from +{102} the West Indies, to recapture the place. The siege was formed, +and there appeared some prospects of a successful outcome, but the +French admiral, too restless to wait until the completion of siege +operations, insisted on trying to take the city by storm on October 9. +The result was a complete repulse, after which D'Estaing sailed away, +and the American besiegers were obliged to withdraw. The real +interests of the French were, in fact, in the West Indies, where they +were gradually capturing English islands; their contributions so far to +the American cause consisted in gifts of munitions and loans of money, +together with numerous adventurous officers who aspired to lead the +American armies. The most amiable and attractive of these was the +young Marquis de Lafayette, owing largely to whose influence a force of +French soldiers under de Rochambeau was sent in 1780 to America. But +for months this force was able to do no more than remain in camp at +Newport, Rhode Island, blockaded by the English fleet. + +In 1780, the British raiding policy was resumed in the southern States +and achieved a startling success. In January, Clinton sailed from New +York with a force of 8,000 men, and after driving the American levies +into the city of Charleston, South Carolina, besieged and took it on +May 12, with all its {103} defenders. He then returned to New York, +leaving Lord Cornwallis with a few troops to complete the conquest of +the State. Congress now sent General Gates southward to repeat the +triumph of Saratoga. At Camden, on August 16, 1780, the issue was +decided. The American commander, with only 3,000 men, encountered +Cornwallis, who had about 2,200, and, as usual, the militia, when +attacked by British in the open field, fled for their lives at the +first charge of the redcoats, leaving the few continentals to be +outnumbered and crushed. + +For a period of several weeks all organized American resistance +disappeared. Only bands of guerillas, or "partisans," as they were +called, kept the field. Clinton had issued a proclamation calling all +loyalists to join the ranks; and Cornwallis made a systematic effort to +compel the enrolment of Tory militia. The plan bore fruit in an +apparent large increase of British numbers, but also in the outbreak of +a murderous civil war. Raiding parties on both sides took to +ambuscades, nocturnal house-burning, hanging of prisoners, and +downright massacres. Pre-eminent for his success was the British +Colonel Tarleton, who with a body of light troops swept tirelessly +around, breaking up rebel bands, riding down militia, and rendering his +command a terror to the {104} State. Marion, Sumter, and other +Americans struggled vainly to equal his exploits. + +Occasional American successes could not turn back the tide. On October +18, 1780, a band of Tories under General Ferguson ventured too far to +the westward, and at King's Mountain were surrounded and shot or taken +prisoners by a general uprising of the frontiersmen. General Greene, +who replaced Gates in December, managed to rally a few men, but dared +not meet Cornwallis in the field. His lieutenant, Morgan, when pursued +by Tarleton, turned on him at the Cowpens, and on January 17 managed to +inflict a severe defeat. The forces were diminutive--less than a +thousand on each side--but the battle was skilfully fought. After it, +however, both Morgan and Greene were forced to fly northward, and did +not escape Cornwallis's pursuit until they were driven out of North +Carolina. The State seemed lost, and on February 23, Cornwallis issued +a proclamation calling upon all loyalists to join the royal forces. +Meanwhile, encouraged by the striking successes in the Carolinas, +Clinton sent a force under Arnold to Virginia, which marched unopposed +through the seaboard counties of that State in the winter of 1781. It +seemed as though the new British policy were on the verge of a great +triumph. + +{105} + +By this time it was becoming a grave question whether the American +revolution was not going to collapse from sheer weakness. The +confederation, as a general government, seemed to be on the verge of +breaking down. The State governments, although badly hampered wherever +British raids took place, were operating regularly and steadily, but +the only common government continued to be the voluntary Continental +Congress, whose powers were entirely undefined, and rested, in fact, on +sufferance. In 1776 a committee, headed by John Dickinson, drafted +Articles of Confederation which, if adopted promptly, would have +provided a regular form of government; but, although these were +submitted in 1777 for ratification, inter-state jealousy sufficed to +block their acceptance. It was discovered that all those States which, +by their original charters, were given no definite western boundaries, +were disposed to claim an extension of their territory to the +Mississippi River. Virginia, through her general, Clark, actually +occupied part of the region claimed by her, and assumed to grant lands +there. The representatives of Maryland in Congress declared such +inequality a danger to the union, and refused to sign the Articles +unless the land claims west of the mountains were surrendered to the +general government. {106} This determination was formally approved by +the Maryland legislature in February, 1779, and matters remained at a +standstill. At last, in 1780, Congress offered to hold any lands which +might be granted to it, with the pledge to form them into States, and, +following this, New York, and Virginia intimated a willingness to make +the required cessions. Then Maryland yielded and ratified the +Articles, so that they came into operation on March 2, 1781. + +The self-styled "United States" had now travelled so far on the road to +bankruptcy that the adoption of the "Articles of Perpetual Union" +seemed scarcely more than an empty form. In the first place, the +federal finances were prostrate. The device of issuing paper money had +proved fatal, for, after a brief period, in 1775, the excessive issues +depreciated in spite of every effort to hinder their decline by +proclamations, price conventions, and political pressure. The only way +of sustaining such notes, namely, the furnishing by the States of a +full and sufficient revenue, was never attempted; for the States +themselves preferred to issue notes, rather than to tax, and when +called upon by the Continental Congress for requisitions they turned +over such amounts of paper as they saw fit. By 1780, the "continental +currency" was {107} practically worthless. Congress could rely only +upon such small sums of money as it could raise by foreign loans +through Franklin and by the contributions of a few patriotic people, +notably Robert Morris. + +The maintenance of the army exhausted the resources of Congress, and +every winter saw the story of Valley Forge repeated. To secure +supplies, Congress was driven to authorize seizure and impressment of +food and payment in certificates of indebtedness. It was for this +reason, as well as from the unwillingness of the Americans to enlist +for the war, that the Continental forces dwindled to diminutive numbers +in 1781. Nothing but Washington's tireless tenacity and loyalty held +the army together, and kept the officers from resigning in disgust. +Yet it seemed impossible that Washington himself could carry the burden +much longer. The general government appeared to be on the point of +disintegrating, leaving to the separate States the task of defending +themselves. Everywhere lassitude, preoccupation with local matters, a +disposition to leave the war to the French, a willingness to let other +States bear the burdens, replaced the fervour of 1776. In other words, +the old colonial habits were reasserting themselves, and the separate +States, reverting to their former accustomed negative politics, were +{108} behaving toward the Continental Congress precisely as they had +done toward England itself during the French wars. With hundreds of +thousands of men of fighting age in America it was impossible, in 1781, +to collect more than a handful for service away from their homes. The +essentially unmilitary nature of the Americans was not to be changed. + +Fortunately for the rebels, the policy of Great Britain was such as to +give them a lease of hope. In spite of the great British naval power +during the first two years of the war, no blockade had been attempted; +and after 1778 the British fleets were thoroughly occupied in following +and foiling the French. The result was that commerce of a sort +continued throughout the war, armed privateers and merchantmen +venturing from the New England and other ports, and trading with +France, Spain and the West Indies. Hundreds were taken by British +cruisers, but hundreds more continued their dangerous trade, and so +America continued to receive imports. The Dutch, especially, supplied +the revolted colonies with some of the commodities which their +exclusion from British ports rendered scarce. So, except for paper +money, there was no economic distress. + +In 1781, when if ever the British might hope to reduce the colonies, +the Empire was itself in sore straits for men to fill its ships and +{109} garrison its forts. This made it difficult for England to send +any reinforcements to America, and left Clinton and Cornwallis with +about 27,000 men to complete their raiding campaign. The task proved +excessive. In March, 1781, Greene, having assembled a small force, +gave battle to Cornwallis at Guilford Court House. The little army of +British veterans, only 2,219 in all, drove Greene from the field after +a stiff fight, but were so reduced in numbers that Cornwallis felt +obliged to retreat to Wilmington on the coast, where he was entirely +out of the field of campaign. On April 25 he marched northward into +Virginia to join the force which had been there for several months, +took command, and continued the policy of marching and destroying. +Before his arrival, Washington had tried to use the French force at +Newport against the Virginia raiders; but the French squadron, although +it ventured from port in March, 1781, and had a successful encounter +with a British fleet, declined to push on into the Chesapeake, and the +plan was abandoned. Cornwallis was able to march unhindered by any +French danger during the summer of 1781. + +But while the British were terrifying Virginia and chasing militia, the +forces left in the Carolinas were being worn down by {110} Greene and +his "partisan" allies. On April 25, at Hobkirk's Hill, Rawdon, the +British commander defeated Greene, and then, with reduced ranks, +retreated. During the summer, further sieges and raids recaptured +British posts, and on September 8 another battle took place at Eutaw +Springs. This resulted, as usual, in a British success on the +battlefield and a retreat afterwards. By October, the slender British +forces in the southernmost States were cooped up in Charleston and +Savannah, and a war of extermination was stamping out all organized +Tory resistance. The raiding policy had failed through weakness of +numbers. The superior fighting ability and tactical skill of +Cornwallis, Rawdon, Stuart, and Tarleton were as obvious as the courage +and steadiness of their troops; but their means were pitifully +inadequate to the task assigned them. + +Further north, a still greater failure took place. Washington was not +deterred by the futile outcome of his previous attempts to use French +co-operation from making a patient and urgent effort to induce De +Grasse, the French admiral in the West Indies, to come north and join +with him and Rochambeau in an attack on Cornwallis in Virginia. He was +at last successful; and on August 28 the wished-for fleet, {111} a +powerful collection of twenty-eight sail-of-the-line, with frigates, +reached Chesapeake Bay. Already the French troops from Newport, and +part of the American army from outside New York, had begun their +southward march, carefully concealing their purposes from Clinton, and +were moving through Pennsylvania. As a third part of the combination, +the French squadron from Newport put to sea, bringing eight more +sail-of-the-line, which, added to De Grasse's, would overmatch any +British fleet on the western side of the Atlantic. + +The one disturbing possibility was that the British West India fleet, +which very properly had sailed in pursuit, might defeat the two French +fleets singly. This chance was put to the test on September 5. On +that day Admiral Graves, with nineteen men-of-war, attacked De Grasse, +who brought twenty-four into line outside Chesapeake Bay; and the +decisive action of the Revolution took place. Seldom has a greater +stake been played for by a British fleet, and seldom has a naval battle +been less successfully managed. Graves may have intended to +concentrate upon part of the French line, but his subordinates +certainly failed to understand any such purpose; and the outcome was +that the head of the British column, approaching the French line at +{112} an angle, was severely handled, while the rear took no part in +the battle. The fleets separated without decisive result, and the +British, after cruising a few days irresolutely, gave up and returned +to New York. The other French squadron had meanwhile arrived, and the +allied troops had come down the Chesapeake. Cornwallis, shut up in +Yorktown by overwhelming forces, defended himself until October 17, and +then surrendered with 8,000 men to the man who had beaten him years +before at Trenton and Princeton. Clinton, aware at last of his danger, +sailed with every vessel he could scrape together, and approached the +bay on October 24 with twenty-five sail-of-the-line and 7,000 men; but +it was too late. He could only retreat to New York, where he remained +in the sole British foothold north of Charleston and Savannah. + +Washington would have been glad to retain De Grasse and undertake +further combined manoeuvres; but the French admiral was anxious to +return to the West Indies, and so the military operations of the year +ended. More was in reality unnecessary, for the collapse of the +British military policy was manifest, and the surrender of Cornwallis +was a sufficiently striking event to bring the war to a close. +Washington had not won the last fight with his own {113} Continentals. +The co-operation not only of the French fleet but of the French troops +under Rochambeau had played the decisive part. Yet it was his +planning, his tenacity, his personal authority with French and +Americans that determined the combined operation and made it +successful. In the midst of a half-starved, ill-equipped army, a +disintegrating, bankrupt government, and a people whose fighting spirit +was rapidly dwindling, it was he with his officers who had saved the +Revolution at the last gasp. + +It was no less the British mismanagement which made this possible, for +had not Howe, by delays, thrown away his chances; had not Howe and +Burgoyne and Clinton and Cornwallis, by their failures to co-operate, +made it possible for their armies to be taken separately; had not the +navy omitted to apply a blockade; had not the Ministry, in prescribing +a raiding policy, failed to strain every nerve to furnish an adequate +supply of men, the outcome would have been different. As it was, the +British defeat could no longer be concealed by the end of 1781. The +attempt to conquer America had failed. + + + + +{114} + +CHAPTER VI + +BRITISH PARTIES AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 1778-1783 + +When the news of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown reached +England, it was recognized by Whigs and Tories alike that the time had +come to admit the failure of the war. The loss of 7,000 troops was not +in itself a severe blow, at a time when England had over 200,000 men +under arms in various parts of the world; but it actually marked the +breakdown of the American campaign, and, what was still more +significant, the political bankruptcy of the North Ministry. Ever +since 1778, the tide had been rising against the royal policy. At +first, when the French war began, the nation rallied against the +ancient foe and there was some enthusiasm displayed in recruiting and +furnishing supplies; but, as general after general returned from +America--first Burgoyne, then Howe and his brother, the admiral,--to +rise in Parliament and denounce the administrative incompetence which +had foiled their efforts; as month after month passed and no victory +either in America or Europe came to cheer the public; worst of all, +when, in 1779, and again in 1780, combined French and Spanish fleets +swept the Channel {115} in overpowering numbers, driving the English +fleet into Torbay harbour--the war spirit dwindled, and bitter +criticism took its place. + +The Whig Opposition, no longer hampered by having the defence of the +revolted colonists as their sole issue, denounced in unmeasured +language the incompetence, corruption, and despotism of the North +Ministry, singling out Sandwich, at the Admiralty, and Germaine, +Secretary for the Colonies, as objects for especial invective. Party +hatred festered in army and navy, Whig and Tory admirals distrusting +each other and engaging in bitter quarrels, Whig and Tory generals +criticizing one another's plans and motives. On his part, Lord North +felt, as early as 1779, that his task was hopeless, and sought +repeatedly to resign; but in spite of secessions from the Ministry, in +spite of defeats and humiliations such as the control by the allies of +the Channel, nothing could shake George's determination. He would +never consent to abandon the colonies or permit North to surrender to +the detested Whigs. + +In 1780, the Opposition, led by Fox and Burke, began to direct its fire +at the King himself; and finally, in March of that year, they had the +satisfaction of carrying in the Commons, by votes of men who once had +been on the administration side, a resolution to the effect that "the +power of the Crown {116} has increased, is increasing, and ought to be +diminished." This was carried, by 283 votes to 215, in a House where +four years before the total Opposition mustered only a hundred. +Measures to cut down sinecures, to limit the secret service fund, to +take away opportunities for royal corruption, were introduced by Burke +and, although defeated, drew large votes. + +The tenacious politician who wore the crown was not yet beaten. In the +summer of 1780, the disgraceful Gordon riots broke out in London; and +the King, by his courageous personal bearing and bold direction of +affairs, won momentary prestige. The news from America, moreover, was +brighter than for a long time, and the British defence of Gibraltar was +unshaken. Suddenly dissolving Parliament, the King employed every +resource of influence or pressure, and managed to secure once more a +majority in the House of Commons. During the year 1781, the North +Ministry breathed more freely, and was able to repel Whig attacks by +safe majorities. But the respite was short. + +In the winter session of 1782, the news of Yorktown shook the Ministry +to its centre, and on top of that came the reports of the surrender of +Minorca, St. Kitts, and Nevis. Held together only by the inflexible +determination of George III never to yield American {117} independence +or "stoop to opposition," the Ministers fought bitterly though +despairingly against a succession of Whig motions, censuring the +Admiralty, demanding the withdrawal of the troops, and finally +censuring the Ministry. Majorities dwindled as rats began to leave the +sinking ship. On March 8, North escaped censure by ten votes only. +The King made repeated efforts to induce members of the Opposition to +come into some sort of coalition, but the hatred was too fierce, the +divergence of principle too wide. Rockingham would accept only +absolute surrender. On March 15, a resolution of want of confidence +was lost by nine only. + +Five days later, in face of a renewed motion of the same kind, North +announced his resignation. The end had come. The system of George III +had broken down, ruined by the weaknesses of the Tory Cabinet in +administration, in war, and in diplomacy, the most disastrous Ministry +in the history of England. There was no possible doubt as to the +significance of the collapse, for Lord Rockingham took office with a +Whig Cabinet, containing Shelburne and Fox, steadfast friends of +America, as Secretaries of State, and with the avowed purpose of +conceding independence to the former colonies, while maintaining the +contest with Spain and France. + +{118} + +Interest now shifted from the battlefield to the regions of diplomacy, +where the situation was complicated and delicate, owing to the unusual +relations of the parties involved. The United States and France were +in alliance, each pledged not to make a separate peace. Spain was in +alliance with France for the purpose of recovering Gibraltar, Minorca, +and Florida, but was not in any alliance with the United States. The +French government, tied thus to two allies, recognized the possible +contingency of diverging interests between Spain and the United States, +and exerted all the influence it could to keep diplomatic control in +its own hands. This it accomplished through its representatives in +America, especially de la Luzerne, who wielded an immense prestige with +the members of the Continental Congress, not only through his position +as representative of the power whose military, naval, and financial aid +was absolutely indispensable, but also by means of personal intrigues +of a type hitherto more familiar in European courts than in simple +America. Under his direction, Congress authorized its European +representatives, Franklin, Jay, and Adams, accredited to France, Spain, +and the Netherlands respectively, to act as peace commissioners and to +be guided in all things by the advice and consent of the French +Minister, {119} Vergennes. Their instructions designated boundaries, +indemnity for ravages and for the taking of slaves, and a possible +cession of Canada, but all were made subject to French approval. When, +accordingly, in 1781, both Shelburne and Fox of the Rockingham Ministry +sought to open negotiations with the American representatives, while +pushing on vigorously the war against France and Spain, they +interjected an embarrassing element into the situation. Vergennes +could not prohibit American negotiation, but he relied upon the +instructions of the commissioners to enable him to prevent the making +of any separate peace, contrary to the treaty of 1778. + +The first steps were taken by Franklin and Shelburne, who opened +unofficial negotiations through Richard Oswald, a friend of America. +It seems to have been Shelburne's plan to avoid the preliminary +concession of independence, hoping to retain some form of connection +between America and England, or at least to use independence as a +make-weight in the negotiations. Hence Oswald, his agent, was not +commissioned to deal with the United States as such. Fox, Secretary +for Foreign Affairs, felt, on the other hand, that the negotiation +belonged to his field, and he sent Thomas Grenville to Paris, +authorized to deal with France {120} and, indirectly, with the United +States. Over this difference in the Cabinet, and over other matters, +an acute personal rivalry developed between Fox and Shelburne, which +culminated when Rockingham died in July, 1782. George III, who much +preferred Shelburne to Fox, asked him to form a Ministry, and upon his +acceptance Fox, absolutely refusing to serve under him, withdrew from +the Cabinet, carrying his friends with him. Thus the triumphant Whig +party was split within a few months after its victory. The whole +responsibility now rested on Shelburne. + +Meanwhile, a new situation had developed in Paris, for Jay and Adams, +the other two commissioners, had brought about a change in the American +policy. Franklin, deeply indebted to the French court and on the best +of terms with Vergennes, was willing to credit him with good intentions +and was ready to accept his advice to negotiate with England under the +vague terms of Oswald's commission; but Jay, who had had a mortifying +experience in Spain, suspected treachery and insisted that England +must, in opening negotiations, fully recognize American independence. +He was sure that Spain would gladly see the United States shut in to +the Atlantic coast away from Spanish territory, and he felt certain +{121} that Vergennes was under Spanish influence. Adams, who knew +nothing of Spain, but distrusted the French on general principles, +sided with Jay; and Franklin, submitting to his colleagues, agreed to a +curious diplomatic manoeuvre. Jay sent to Shelburne a secret message, +urging him to deal separately with the United States under a proper +commission and not seek to play into the hands of Spain and France. He +knew that a French emissary had visited Shelburne, and he dreaded +French double-dealing, especially on the question of boundaries and +fishery rights. + +The British Prime Minister was in the odd position of being appealed to +by one of the three hostile powers to save it from the other two; but +underlying the situation was the fact that Shelburne, as a Whig since +the beginning of the American quarrel, was committed to a friendly +policy toward America. He knew, moreover, that when Parliament should +meet he must expect trouble from Fox and the dissatisfied Whigs, as +well as the Tories, and he was anxious to secure a treaty as soon as +possible. So yielding, on September 27, he gave Oswald the required +commission, but, suspecting that he was rather too complaisant, sent +Henry Strachey to assist him. During the summer, Franklin and Oswald, +in informal {122} discussions, had already eliminated various matters, +so that when negotiations formally opened it took not over five weeks +to agree upon a draft treaty. + +During all this time the Americans violated their instructions by +failing to consult Vergennes. Here Franklin was again overruled by Jay +and Adams, whose antipathy to French and Spanish influence was +insuperable. It does not appear that Vergennes had any definite +intention to work against American boundaries or fishery rights; but +there can be no doubt that Rayneval and Marbois, two of his agents, +committed themselves openly in a sense unfavourable to American claims, +and it is likely that, had the negotiations taken place under his +control, the outcome would have been delayed in every way in order to +allow France to keep its contract with Spain, whose attacks on +Gibraltar were pushed all through the summer. As it was, the +negotiators managed to agree on a treaty of peace which reflected the +Whig principles of Shelburne and the skill and pertinacity of the three +Americans. Little trouble was encountered over boundaries, Shelburne +ceding everything east of the Mississippi and north of Florida, and +designating as a boundary between the United States and Canada in part +the same line as that in the Proclamation of 1763, from the {123} St. +Croix River to the eastward of Maine, to the Great Lakes and thence +westward by a system of waterways to the headwaters of the Mississippi. +At the especial urgence of Adams, whose Massachusetts constituents drew +much of their wealth from the Newfoundland fisheries, the right of +continuing this pursuit was comprised in the treaty, together with the +right to land and dry fish on unoccupied territories in Labrador and +Nova Scotia. As a possible make-weight, the navigation of the +Mississippi was guaranteed to citizens of both the United States and +Great Britain. + +The chief difficulty arose over the question of the treatment of +American loyalists and the payment of British debts which had been +confiscated in every colony. Shelburne insisted that there must be +restoration of civil rights, compensation for damages, and a pledge +against any future confiscations or disfranchisements for loyalists, +and also demanded a provision for the payment of all debts due to +British creditors. Here the negotiation hung in a long deadlock, for +Franklin, Adams, and Jay were unanimously determined to concede no +compensation for individuals whom they hated as traitors; while the +British negotiators felt bound in honour not to abandon the men who had +lost all and suffered every indignity and {124} humiliation as a +penalty for their loyalty. At length, progress was made when Adams +suggested that the question of British debts be separated from that of +Tory compensation; so a clause was agreed upon guaranteeing the full +payment of bona fide debts heretofore contracted. + +Finally, after Franklin had raised a counter-claim for damages due to +what he called the "inhuman burnings" of the British raids since 1778, +it was agreed to insert a clause against any future confiscations or +prosecutions of loyalists and to add that Congress should "earnestly +recommend" to the States the restoration of loyalists' estates and the +repealing of all laws against them. At the time the commissioners drew +up this article, they must have known that the Congress of the United +States had no power to enforce the treaty, and that any such +recommendations, however "earnest," would carry no weight with the +thirteen communities controlled by embittered rebels, who remembered +every Tory, alive or dead, with execration. Nevertheless, it offered a +way of escape, and the British representative signed, on November 30, +1782. The great contest was at an end. + +When Franklin revealed to Vergennes that, unknown to the French court, +the American commissioners had agreed on a {125} draft treaty, the +French minister was somewhat indignant at the trick, and communicated +his displeasure to his agent in America. This induced the easily +worried Congress to instruct Livingston, the Secretary for Foreign +Affairs, to write a letter censuring the commissioners; but, although +Jay and Adams were hotly indignant at such servility, the matter ended +then and there. Vergennes's displeasure was momentary, and the French +policy continued as before. The European war was, in fact, wearing to +its end. Already, in April, 1782, Admiral Rodney had inflicted a sharp +defeat on De Grasse, capturing five of his vessels, including the +flagship with the admiral himself. This, together with the extreme +inefficiency of the Spanish fleet, put an end to the hope of further +French gains in the West Indies. Before Gibraltar, also, the allied +fleet of forty-eight vessels did not dare to risk a general engagement +with a British relieving fleet of thirty, and when in September, 1782, +a final bombardment was attempted, the batteries from the fort proved +too strong for their assailants. The allies felt that they had +accomplished all they could hope to, and agreed to terms of peace on +January 20, 1783. France gained little beyond sundry West India +Islands, but Spain profited to the extent of {126} regaining Minorca +and also Florida. It was at best a defeat for England, and the Whig +Ministry, which carried it through, was unable to prevent such an +outcome. + +The American peace was made the pretext for Shelburne's fall, since a +coalition of dissatisfied Whigs and Tories united in March, 1783, to +censure it, thereby turning out the Ministry. But, although Fox +regained control of diplomatic matters and made some slight moves +toward reopening negotiations, he had no serious intention of +disturbing Shelburne's work, and the provisional treaty was made +definitive on September 3, 1783--the day on which the French treaty was +signed. Thus the Americans technically kept to the terms of their +alliance with France in agreeing not to make a separate peace, but as a +matter of fact hostilities had entirely ceased in America since +January, 1783, and practically since the fall of the North Ministry. +The British had remained quietly in New York and Charleston, +withdrawing from all other points, and Washington with his small army +stood at Newburg-on-the-Hudson. In October, 1783, the last British +withdrew, taking with them into exile thousands of Tories who did not +dare to remain to test the value of the clauses in the treaty of peace +intended to protect them. So the last traces of the long contest +disappeared, {127} and the United States entered upon its career. + +The treaty, as must have been foreseen by the commissioners themselves, +remained a dead letter so far as the Tories were concerned. Congress +performed its part and gave the promised recommendation, but the States +paid no heed. The loyalists were not restored to civil or property +rights. The plain provision of the treaty prohibiting further +legislation against loyalists was defied in several States, and +additional disqualifications were placed upon those who dared to remain +in the country. The provision regarding the payment of debts remained +unfulfilled, since there was no mechanism provided in the treaty +through which the article could be enforced. Only from the British +government could the Tories receive any recompense for their +sufferings, and there they were in part relieved. Very many received +grants of land in Canada, where they formed a considerable part of the +population in several districts. More went to New Brunswick and Nova +Scotia to receive similar grants. Others spent their days in England +as unhappy pensioners, forgotten victims of a war which all Englishmen +sought to bury in oblivion. Those who remained in the United States +ultimately regained standing and fared better than the exiles, but not +until new {128} domestic issues had arisen to obliterate the memory of +revolutionary antagonisms. + +With the Treaty of 1782, the mother country and the former colonies +definitely started on separate paths, recognizing the fundamental +differences which for fifty years had made harmonious co-operation +impossible. England remained as before, aristocratic in social +structure, oligarchic in government, military and naval in temper--a +land of strongly fixed standards of religious and political life, a +country where society looked to a narrow circle for leadership. Its +commercial and economic ideals, unaltered by defeat, persisted to guide +national policy in peace and war for two more generations. The sole +result of the war for England was to render impossible in future any +such perversion of Cabinet government as that which George III, by +intimidation, fraud, and political management, had succeeded for a +decade in establishing. Never again would the country tolerate royal +dictation of policies and leaders. England became what it had been +before 1770, a country where parliamentary groups and leaders bore the +responsibility and gained the glory or discredit, while the outside +public approved or protested without seeking in any other manner to +control the destinies of the State. While the English thus sullenly +fell back into their {129} accustomed habits, the former Colonies, now +relieved from the old-time subordination, were turned adrift to solve +problems of a wholly different sort. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE FORMATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 1781-1798 + +The British colonists, who assumed independent legal existence with the +adoption of Articles of Confederation in 1781, had managed to carry +through a revolution and emerge into the light of peace. They were now +required to learn, in the hard school of experience, those necessary +facts of government which they had hitherto ignored, and which, even in +the agonies of civil war, they had refused to recognize. + +Probably with three-quarters of the American people, the prevailing +political sentiment was that of aversion to any governmental control, +coupled with a deep-rooted jealousy and distrust of all officials, even +those chosen by and dependent upon themselves. Their political ideals +contemplated {130} the government of each colony chiefly by the elected +representatives of the voters, who should meet annually to legislate +and tax, and then, having defined the duties of the few permanent +officers in such a way as to leave them little or no discretion, should +dissolve, leaving the community to run itself until the next annual +session. Authority of any kind was to them an object of traditional +dread, even when exercised by their own agents. The early State +constitutions concentrated all power in the legislature, leaving the +executive and judicial officials little to do but execute the laws. +The only discretionary powers enjoyed by governors were in connection +with military affairs. + +In establishing the Articles of Confederation the statesmen of the +Continental Congress had no intention of creating in any sense a +governing body. All that the Congress could do was to decide upon war +and peace, make treaties, decide upon a common military establishment, +and determine the sums to be contributed to the common treasury. These +matters, moreover, called for an affirmative vote of nine States in +each case. There was no federal executive or judiciary, nor any +provision for enforcing the votes of the Congress. To carry out any +single thing committed by the Articles to the Congress, and duly voted, +required the {131} positive co-operation of the State legislatures, who +were under no other compulsion than their sense of what the situation +called for and of what they could afford to do. + +Things were, in short, just where the colonists would have been glad to +have them before the Revolution--with the objectionable provincial +executives removed, all coercive authority in the central government +abolished, and the legislatures left to their own absolute discretion. +In other words, the average American farmer or trader of the day felt +that the Revolution had been fought to get rid of all government but +one directly under the control of the individual voters of the States. +Typical of such were men like Samuel Adams of Massachusetts and Patrick +Henry of Virginia. They had learned their politics in the period +before the Revolution, and clung to the old colonial spirit, which +regarded normal politics as essentially defensive and anti-governmental. + +On the other hand, there were a good many individuals in the country +who recognized that the triumph of the colonial ideal was responsible +for undeniable disasters. Such men were found, especially, among the +army officers and among those who had tried to aid the cause in +diplomatic or civil office during the Revolution. Experience made them +realize that the practical abolition of all {132} executive authority +and the absence of any real central government had been responsible for +chronic inefficiency. The financial collapse, the lack of any power on +the part of Congress to enforce its laws or resolutions, the visible +danger that State legislatures might consult their own convenience in +supporting the common enterprises or obligations--all these +shortcomings led men like Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Webster, a +pamphleteer of New England, to urge even before 1781 that a genuine +government should be set up to replace the mere league. Their +supporters were, however, few, and confined mainly to those merchants +or capitalists who realized the necessity of general laws and a general +authority. It is scarcely conceivable that the inherited prejudices of +most Americans in favour of local independence could have been +overborne had not the Revolution been followed by a series of public +distresses, which drove to the side of the strong-government +advocates--temporarily, as it proved--a great number of American voters. + +When hostilities ended, the people of the United States entered upon a +period of economic confusion. In the first place, trade was +disorganized, since the old West India markets were lost and the +privileges formerly enjoyed under the Navigation Acts were terminated +by the separation of the {133} countries. American shippers could not +at once discover in French or other ports an equivalent for the former +triangular trade. In the second place, British manufacturers and +exporters rushed to recover their American market, and promptly put out +of competition the American industries which had begun to develop +during the war. Specie, plentiful for a few months, now flowed rapidly +out of the country, since American merchants were no longer able to buy +British goods by drawing on West India credits. At the same time, with +the arrival of peace, the State courts resumed their functions, and +general liquidation began; while the State legislatures, in the effort +to adjust war finances, imposed what were felt to be high taxes. The +result was a general complaint of hard times, poverty, and insufficient +money. Some States made efforts to retaliate against Great Britain by +tariffs and navigation laws, but this only damaged their own ports by +driving British Trade to their neighbours'. Congress could afford no +help, since it had no power of commercial regulation. + +The effect upon the working of the Confederation showed that a majority +of Americans had learned nothing from all their experiences, for the +State legislatures declined to furnish to the central government any +{134} more money than they felt to be convenient, regardless of the +fact that without their regular support the United States was certain +to become bankrupt. Robert Morris was appointed Financier in 1871, and +took energetic steps to introduce order into the mass of loan +certificates, foreign loans, certificates of indebtedness, and +mountains of paper currency; but one unescapable fact stood in his way, +that the States felt under no obligation to pay their quotas of +expenses. In spite of his urgent appeals, backed by resolutions of +Congress, the government revenues remained too scanty to pay even the +interest on the debt. Morris resigned in disgust in 1784; and his +successors, a committee of Congress, found themselves able to do +nothing more than confess bankruptcy. The people of the States felt +too poor to support their federal government, and, what was more, felt +no responsibility for its fate. + +Without revenue, it naturally followed that the Congress of the +Confederation accomplished practically nothing. As will be shown +later, it could secure no treaties of any importance, since its +impotence to enforce them was patent. It managed to disband the +remaining troops with great difficulty and only under the danger of +mutiny, a danger so great that it took all of {135} Washington's +personal influence to prevent an uprising at Newburg in March, 1783. +For the rest, its leaders, men often of high ability--Hamilton, +Madison, King of Massachusetts, Sherman of Connecticut--found +themselves helpless. Naturally they appealed to the States for +additional powers and submitted no less than three amendments: first, +in 1781, a proposal to permit Congress to levy and collect a five per +cent. duty on imports; then, in 1783, a plan by which certain specific +duties were to be collected by State officers and turned over to the +government; and finally, in 1784, a request that Congress be given +power to exclude vessels of nations which would not make commercial +treaties. No one of these succeeded, although the first plan failed of +unanimous acceptance by one State only. The legislatures recognized +the need, but dreaded to give any outside power whatever authority +within their respective boundaries. While those who advocated these +amendments kept reiterating the positive necessity for some means to +avert national disgrace and bankruptcy, their opponents, reverting to +the language of 1775, declared it incompatible with "liberty" that any +authority other than the State's should be exercised in a State's +territory. By 1787, it was clear that any hope of specific amendments +was vain. Unanimity from {136} thirteen legislatures was not to be +looked for. + +On the other hand, where the States chose to act they produced +important results. The cessions of western lands, which had been +exacted by Maryland as her price for ratifying the Articles, were +carried out by New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia until +the title to all territory west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio +was with the Confederation. Then, although nothing in the Articles +authorized such action, Congress, in 1787, adopted an Ordinance +establishing a plan for settling the new lands. After a period of +provincial government, substantially identical with that of the +colonies, the region was to be divided into States and admitted into +the union, under the terms of an annexed "compact" which prohibited +slavery and guaranteed civil rights. But where the States did not +co-operate, confusion reigned. Legislatures imposed such tariffs as +they saw fit, which led to actual inter-State commercial +discriminations between New York and its neighbours. Connecticut and +Pennsylvania wrangled over land claims. The inhabitants of the +territory west of New Hampshire set up a State government under the +name of Vermont, and successfully maintained themselves against the +State of New York, {137} which had a legal title to the soil, while the +frontier settlers in North Carolina were prevented only by inferior +numbers from carrying through a similar secession. + +Finally, in the years 1785-7, the number of those who found the +unrestrained self-government of the separate States another name for +anarchy was enormously increased by a sudden craze for paper money, +"tender" laws, and "stay" laws which swept the country. The poorer +classes, especially the farmers, denounced the courts as agents of the +rich, clamoured for more money to permit the easy payment of +obligations, and succeeded in compelling more than half of the States +to pass laws hindering the collection of debts and emitting bills of +credit, which promptly depreciated. Worse remained. In New Hampshire, +armed bands tried to intimidate the legislature; and in Massachusetts +the rejection of such laws brought on actual insurrection. Farmers +assembled under arms, courts were broken up, and a sharp little civil +war, known as Shays' Rebellion, was necessary before the State +government could re-establish order. + +In these circumstances, a sudden strong reaction against mob rule and +untrammelled democracy ran through the country, swinging all men of +property and law-abiding habits powerfully in favour of the demand +{138} for a new, genuinely authoritative, national government, able to +compel peace and good order. So the leaders of the reform party +struck; and at a meeting of Annapolis in October, 1786, summoned +originally to discuss the problem of navigating the Potomac River, they +issued a call for a convention of delegates from all the States to meet +at Philadelphia in May, 1787, for the purpose of recommending +provisions "intended to render the federal government adequate to the +exigencies of the Union." This movement, reversing the current of +American history, gained impetus in the winter of 1787. Congress +seconded the call; and, after Virginia had shown the way by nominating +its foremost men as delegates, the other States fell into line and sent +representatives--all but Rhode Island, which was the scene of an orgy +of paper-money tyranny, and would take no part in any such meeting. + +Of the fifty-five men present at the Philadelphia convention, not more +than half-a-dozen were of the old colonial type, which clung to +individual State independence as the palladium of liberty. All the +others felt that the time had come to lay the most thoroughgoing +limitations upon the States, with the express purpose of preventing any +future repetition of the existing inter-State wrangles, and especially +of the financial {139} abuses of the time; and they were ready to gain +this end by entrusting large powers to the central government. They +divided sharply, however, on one important point, namely, whether the +increased powers were to be exercised by a government similar to the +existing one, or by something wholly new and far more centralized; and +over this question the convention ran grave danger of breaking up. + +Discussion began in June, 1787, behind closed doors, with a draft plan +agreed upon by the Virginia members as the working project. This was a +bold scheme, calling for the creation of a single great State, relying +on the people for its authority, superior to the existing States, and +able, if necessary, to coerce them; in reality, a fusion of the United +States into a single commonwealth. In opposition to this, the +representatives of the smaller States--Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland +and Connecticut--aided by the conservative members from New York, +announced that they would never consent to any plan which did not +safeguard the individuality and equality of their States; and, although +the Virginia plan commanded a majority of those present, its supporters +were obliged to permit a compromise in order to prevent an angry +dissolution of the convention. In keeping with a suggestion of the +{140} Connecticut members, it was agreed that one House of the proposed +legislature should contain an equal representation of the States, while +the other should be based on population. + +The adoption of this compromise put an end to the danger of disruption, +for all but a few irreconcilables were now ready to co-operate; and in +the course of a laborious session a final draft was hammered out, with +patchings, changes, and additional compromises to safeguard the +interests of the plantation States in the institution of slavery. + +When the convention adjourned, it placed before the people of America a +document which was a novelty in the field of government. In part, it +aimed to establish a great State, on the model of the American States, +which in turn derived their features from the colonial governments. It +had a Congress of two Houses, an executive with independent powers, and +a judiciary authorized to enforce the laws of the United States. +Congress was given full and exclusive power over commerce, currency, +war and peace, and a long list of enumerated activities involving +inter-State questions, and was authorized to pass all laws necessary +and proper to the carrying out of any of the powers named in the +constitution. Further, the constitution, the federal laws, and +treaties were declared to be the supreme {141} law of the land, +anything in a State law or constitution notwithstanding. In addition, +the States were expressly forbidden to enter the fields reserved to the +federal government, and were prohibited from infringing the rights of +property. On the other hand, the new government could not exist +without the co-operation of the States in providing for the election of +electors,--to choose a president--of senators, and of congressmen. It +was a new creation, a federal State. + +There now followed a sharp and decisive contest to gain the necessary +ratification by nine commonwealths. At first, the advocates of strong +government, by a rapid campaign, secured the favourable votes of +half-a-dozen States in quick succession; but when it came the turn of +New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia, the conservative, localistic +instincts of the farmers and older people were roused to make a +strenuous resistance. The "Federalists," as the advocates of the new +government termed themselves, had to meet charges that the proposed +scheme would crush the liberties of the State, reduce them to ciphers, +and set up an imitation of the British monarchy. But, by the eager +urging of the foremost lawyers and most influential men of the day, the +tide was turned and ratification carried, although with the utmost +difficulty, and usually with {142} the recommendation of amendments to +perfect the constitution. In June, 1788, the contest ended; and, +although Rhode Island and North Carolina remained unreconciled, the +other eleven States proceeded to set up the new government. + +In the winter of 1789, in accordance with a vote of the Congress of the +Confederation, the States chose electors and senators, and the people +voted for representatives. But one possible candidate existed for the +presidency, namely, the hero of the Revolutionary War; and accordingly +Washington received the unanimous vote of the whole electoral college. +With him, John Adams was chosen vice-president, by a much smaller +majority. The Congress, which slowly assembled, was finally able to +count and declare the votes, the two officers were inaugurated, and the +new government was ready to assume its functions. + +There followed a period of rapid and fundamental legislation. In the +new Congress were a body of able men, by far the greater number of them +zealous to establish a strong authoritative government, and to complete +the victory of the Federalists. The defeated States' Rights men now +stood aside, watching their conquerors carry their plan to its +conclusion. Led for the most part by James Madison of the House, {143} +Congress passed Acts creating executive departments with federal +officials; establishing a full independent federal judiciary, resident +in every State, with a supreme court above all; imposing a tariff for +revenue and for protection to American industries, and appropriating +money to settle the debts of the late confederation. In addition, it +framed and submitted to the States a series of constitutional +amendments whose object was to meet Anti-federalist criticisms by +securing the individual against oppression from the federal government. +When Congress adjourned in September, 1789, after its first session, it +had completed a thoroughgoing political revolution. In place of a +loose league of entirely independent States, there now existed a +genuine national government, able to enforce its will upon individuals +and to perform all the functions of any State. + +That the American people, with their political inheritance, should have +consented even by a small majority to abandon their traditional lax +government, remains one of the most remarkable political decisions in +history. It depended upon the concurrence of circumstances which, for +the moment, forced all persons of property and law-abiding instincts to +join together in all the States to remedy an intolerable situation. +{144} The leaders, as might be expected, were a different race of +statesmen, on the whole, from those who had directed events prior to +1776. Washington and Franklin favoured the change; but Richard Henry +Lee and Patrick Henry were eager opponents, Samuel Adams was +unfriendly, and Thomas Jefferson, in Paris, was unenthusiastic. The +main work was done by Hamilton, Madison, John Marshall, Gouverneur +Morris, Fisher Ames--men who were children in the days of the Stamp +Act. The old agitators and revolutionists were superseded by a new +type of politicians, whose interests lay in government, not opposition. + +But the fundamental American instincts were not in reality changed; +they had only ebbed for the moment. No sooner did Congress meet in its +second session in January, 1790, and undertake the task of reorganizing +the chaotic finances of the country, than political unanimity vanished, +and new sectional and class antagonisms came rapidly to the front in +which could be traced the return of the old-time colonial habits. The +central figure was no longer Madison, but Hamilton, Secretary of the +Treasury, who aspired to be a second William Pitt, and submitted an +elaborate scheme for refunding the entire American debt. In addition, +he called for an excise tax, and {145} later recommended the chartering +of a National Bank to serve the same function in America that the Bank +of England performed in Great Britain. + +Daring, far-sighted, based on the methods of English financiers, +Hamilton's plans bristled with points certain to arouse antagonism. He +proposed to refund and pay the debt at its face value to actual +holders, regardless of the fact that the nearly worthless federal stock +and certificates of indebtedness had fallen into the hands of +speculators; he recommended that the United States should assume, fund, +and pay the war debt of the States, disregarding the fact that, while +some States were heavily burdened, others had discharged their +obligations. He urged an excise tax on liquors, although such an +internal tax was an innovation in America and was certain to stir +intense opposition; he suggested the chartering of a powerful bank, in +spite of the absence of any clause in the constitution authorizing such +action. Hamilton was, in fact, a great admirer of the English +constitution and political system, and he definitely intended to +strengthen the new government by making it the supreme financial power +and enlisting in its support all the moneyed interests of the country. +Property, as in England, must be the basis of government. + +{146} + +Against his schemes, there immediately developed a rising opposition +which made itself felt in Congress, in State legislatures, in the +newspapers, and finally in Washington's own Cabinet. All the farmer +and debtor elements in the country disliked and dreaded the financial +manipulations of the brilliant secretary; and the Virginian planters, +universally borrowers, who had been the strongest single power in +establishing the new constitution, now swung into opposition to the +administration. Madison led the fight in the House against Hamilton's +measures; and Jefferson, in the Cabinet, laid down, in a memorandum of +protest against the proposed bank, the doctrine of "strict +construction" of the constitution according to which the powers granted +to the federal government ought to be narrowly construed in order to +preserve the State governments, the source of liberty, from +encroachment. He denounced the bank, accordingly, as unwarranted by +the constitution, corrupt, and dangerous to the safety of the country. +In the congressional contest Hamilton was successful, for all his +recommendations were adopted, but at the cost of creating a lasting +antagonism in the southern States and in the western regions. + +In 1791, Jefferson and Madison co-operated to establish a newspaper at +Philadelphia whose sole occupation consisted in denouncing {147} the +corrupt and monarchical Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton retorted +by publishing letters charging Jefferson with responsibility for it; +and Washington, who steadily approved Hamilton's policies, found his +Cabinet splitting into two factions. By the year 1792, when the second +presidential election took place, the opposition, styling itself +"Republican," was sufficiently well organized to run George Clinton, +formerly the Anti-federalist leader of New York, for the +Vice-Presidency against the "monarchical" Adams. Washington was not +opposed, but no other one of the Hamiltonian supporters escaped attack. +There was, in short, the beginning of the definite formation of +political parties on lines akin to those which existed in the period +before 1787. Behind Jefferson and Madison were rallying all the +colonial-minded voters, to whom government was at best an evil and to +whom, under any circumstances, strong authority and elaborate finance +were utterly abhorrent. Around Hamilton gathered the men whose +interests lay in building up a genuine, powerful, national +government--the merchants, shipowners, moneyed men and creditors +generally in the northern States--and, of course, all Tories. + +Up to 1793, the Federalist administration successfully maintained its +ground; and, when {148} the Virginian group tried in the House to prove +laxity and mismanagement against Hamilton, he was triumphantly +vindicated. Had the United States been allowed to develop in +tranquillity and prosperity for a generation, it is not unlikely that +the Federalist party might have struck its roots so deeply as to be +impervious to attacks. But it needed time, for in contrast to the +Jeffersonian party, whose origin is manifestly in the old-time colonial +political habits of democracy, local independence, and love of lax +finance, the Federalist party was a new creation, with no traditions to +fall back upon. Reflecting in some respects British views, notably in +its distrust of the masses and its respect for property and wealth, it +far surpassed any English party of the period, except the small group +led by William Pitt, in its demand for progressive and vigorous +legislation. In 1793, when matters were in this situation, the state +of European and British politics suddenly brought the United States +into the current of world politics, and subjected the new +administration to difficulties, which were ultimately to cause its +downfall. + + + + +{149} + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE FIRST PERIOD OF COMMERCIAL ANTAGONISM, 1783-1795 + +While the United States had been undergoing the important changes of +the period, 1783-1793, England had passed through an almost equally +significant political transformation, in course of which the two +countries entered upon a long history of difficult and unfriendly +diplomatic relations. The treaty of peace ended the political union of +the two communities, but it left the nature of their commercial +relations to be settled; and this, for the United States, was a problem +second only in importance to that of federal government. If the +prosperity of the thirteen States was to be restored, the old-time +trade routes of the colonial days must be re-established. The West +India market for fish, grain, and lumber, the British or European +market for plantation products must be replaced on a profitable basis, +and the United States must be prepared to purchase these privileges by +whatever concessions lay in its power to grant. It rested chiefly with +England to decide whether to permit the former colonies to resume their +earlier commercial system or begin a new policy, for it was with +Britain and the British colonies {150} that seven-eighths of American +commerce naturally was carried on. + +Unfortunately for the people of the United States, and unfortunately +for the harmony of the two countries, the prevailing beliefs of English +merchants, shipowners, naval authorities, and, in general, the official +classes were such as to render a complete resumption of the former +trade relations almost impossible. According to the political and +economic doctrines underlying the Acts of Trade, the moment that the +two countries became separated their interests automatically became +antagonistic. American shipping, formerly fostered when under the +flag, now assumed the aspect of a formidable rival to the British +merchant marine and, as such, ought to be prevented from taking any +profit which by any device could be turned toward British ships. + +The treaty of peace had scarcely been signed when there appeared a +pamphlet by Lord Sheffield, early in 1783, which won instant success, +passing through several editions. This announced that henceforward it +was the duty of the British government to discourage and crush American +navigation to the extent of its power in order to check a dangerous +rival, taking especial care to reserve the West Indies for exclusive +British control. At the possibility of losing the {151} profitable +American market through retaliatory measures, Sheffield laughed in +scorn. "We might as reasonably dread the effect of combinations among +the German as among the American States," he sneered, "and deprecate +the resolves of the Diet as those of Congress." There were elements, +of course, to whom these arguments of Sheffield were unwelcome, +particularly the West India planters themselves, and to a degree the +British manufacturers, who would gladly have resumed the trade of the +years before 1776; but, so far as the great majority of Englishmen was +concerned, it seems impossible to doubt that Lord Sheffield was a true +spokesman of their convictions. + +In addition to the economic theories of the time, the temper of the +British people was sullen, hostile, and contemptuous toward the former +colonies. The bulk of the nation had come to condemn the policy of the +North Ministry which had led to the loss of the plantations, but they +did not love the Americans any the more for that. The sharp social +distinctions, which prior to 1776 had rendered the nobility, the +gentry, the clergy, and the professions contemptuous toward the +colonists, still reigned unchecked; and the Tories and most of the +ruling classes, regarding the Americans as a set of ungrateful and +spiteful people, whom it was well {152} to have lost as subjects, +ceased to take any interest in their existence. The United States was +dropped, as an unpleasant subject is banished from conversation; and +the relations of the two countries became a matter of national concern +only when the interests of shipowners, merchants, or naval authorities +were sufficiently strong to compel attention from the governing classes. + +The Whig leaders should, of course, be excepted from this general +statement, for they and their followers--both their parliamentary +coterie and their middle-class adherents outside--retained a friendly +attitude, and tried to treat the United States with a consideration +which usually had no place in Tory manners. But Whigs as well as +Tories held the prevailing conceptions of naval and economic +necessities, and only scattered individuals, like William Pitt, were +affected by the new doctrines of Adam Smith. Their commercial policy +tended to differ only in degree from that of the more rigid Tories. + +To make it certain that the United States should fail to secure +favourable commercial rights, the ascendancy of the Whigs came to a +sudden end within a year from its beginning. The Shelburne Ministry, +which made the peace, had to meet the opposition not only of the Tories +but of the group led by Fox. In the session of 1783, the Whig party +{153} was thus openly split, and presently all England was scandalized +to see Fox enter into a coalition with no less a person than Lord North +for the purpose of obtaining office. Shelburne resigned on February +24, after the passage of a resolution of censure on the Peace; and +George III, after trying every expedient to avoid what he considered a +personal disgrace, was forced, on April 2, to admit Fox and North as +Ministers under the nominal headship of the Duke of Portland. So +Tories were restored to a share in the government, since nearly half of +the coalition majority depended upon Tory votes. In December, 1783, +the King, by a direct exercise of his influence, caused the Lords to +throw out a Ministerial bill for the government of India and, +dismissing the coalition Ministers, he appealed to William Pitt. That +youthful politician, who had first entered office as Chancellor of the +Exchequer under Shelburne, succeeded, after a sharp parliamentary +contest, in breaking down the opposition majority in the House, and in +a general election in March, 1784, won a great victory. Then, at the +head of a mixed Cabinet, supported by Tories and King's Friends as well +as by his own followers from among the Whigs, Pitt maintained himself, +secure in the support of George III, but in no sense his agent or tool. +In the {154} next few years, he made his hold secure by his skill in +parliamentary leadership and his success in carrying financial and +administrative reforms. This was the first peace Ministry since that +of Pelham, 1746-1754, which won prestige through efficient government. +It was, however, mainly Tory in temper, and as such distinctly cold and +unfriendly toward America. Pitt himself was undoubtedly in favour of +liberal commercial relations; but in that respect, as in the question +of parliamentary reform, he followed the opinions of his supporters and +of the nation. + +The British policy toward the United States, under the circumstances, +was dictated by a strict adherence to the principles set forth by Lord +Sheffield. Pitt, while Chancellor of the Exchequer under Shelburne, +introduced a very liberal Bill, which, if enacted, would have secured +full commercial reciprocity, including the West India trade. This +failed to pass, however, and was abandoned when Pitt left office in +April, 1783. The Fox-North Ministry followed a different plan by +causing Parliament to pass a Bill authorizing the Crown to regulate the +trade with the West Indies. They then, by proclamation, allowed the +islands to import certain articles from the United States, not +including fish or lumber, and {155} only in British bottoms. It was +hoped that Canada would take the place of the United States in +supplying the West India colonies, and that British vessels would +monopolize the carrying. In 1787 this action was ratified by +Parliament, and the process of discouraging American shipping was +adopted as a national policy. American vessels henceforward came under +the terms of the Navigation Acts, and could take part only in the +direct trade between their own country and England. When John Adams, +in 1785, arrived at London as Minister, and tried to open the subject +of a commercial treaty, he was unable to secure the slightest attention +to the American requests and felt himself to be in an atmosphere of +hostility and social contempt. The British policy proved in a few +years fairly successful. It reduced American shipping trading with +England, it drove American vessels from the British West Indies, and, +owing to the impossibility of the States retaliating separately, it did +not diminish the British market in America. Up to 1789, when the first +Congress of the United States passed a navigation act and adopted +discriminating duties, America remained commercially helpless. The +profit went to British shipowners and merchants. + +The American government naturally {156} turned to the other powers +having American possessions, France and Spain, hoping to secure from +them compensating advantages. So far as France was concerned, the +government of Louis XVI was friendly; but its finances were in such +confusion and its administration so unsteady after 1783 that Jefferson, +Minister to France, could secure no important concessions save one. In +1784, as though to step into the place left vacant by the English, the +French crown, by royal order, permitted direct trade between the United +States and the French West Indies in vessels of less than sixty tons +burden. The result was striking. In a few years the American molasses +trade, driven from the British islands, took refuge at San Domingo, +building up a tremendous sugar export and more than filling the place +of the British trade. In 1790 the commerce of San Domingo surpassed +that of all the British Islands together. Here again, French +friendship shone in contrast to English antagonism. Every American +shipowner felt the difference, and remembered it. + +With Spain the United States was less successful. Jay, Secretary for +Foreign Affairs, undertook negotiations through Diego Gardoqui, a +Spaniard who, during the Revolution, had furnished many cargoes of +supplies. He {157} found that country sharply dissatisfied over the +boundary assigned to the United States. The British, in ceding Florida +to Spain, had not turned over all of their province of 1763, but had +handed that part of it north of thirty-two degrees to the United +States, and, further, had granted the latter the free navigation of the +Mississippi, through Spanish territory. Gardoqui offered in substance +to make a commercial treaty provided the United States would surrender +the claim to navigate the Mississippi for twenty years. Jay, to whose +mind the interests of the seaboard shipowners and producers far +outweighed the desires of the few settlers of the interior waters, was +willing to make the agreement. But an angry protest went up from the +southern States, whose land claims stretched to the Mississippi, and he +could secure, in 1787, a vote of only seven States to five in Congress. +Since all treaties required the consent of nine States, this vote +killed the negotiations. Spain remained unfriendly, and continued to +intrigue with the Indian tribes in the south-western United States with +a view to retaining their support. + +Further north, the United States found itself mortified and helpless +before British antagonism. After 1783 the country had Canada on its +northern border as a small but actively hostile neighbour, for there +{158} thousands of proscribed and ruined Tories had taken refuge. The +governors of Canada, Carlton and Simcoe, as well as the men commanding +the frontier posts, had served against the Americans and regarded them +as rivals. To secure the western fur trade and to retain a hold over +the western Indians was recognized as the correct and necessary policy +for Canada; and the British government, in response to Canadian +suggestions, decided to retain their military posts along the Great +Lakes within the boundaries of the United States. To justify them in +so doing, they pointed with unanswerable truth to the fact that the +United States had not carried out the provisions of the Treaty of 1783 +regarding British debts, and that Tories, contrary to the letter and +spirit of that treaty, were still proscribed by law. The State courts +felt in no way bound to enforce the treaty, nor did State legislatures +choose to carry it out. British debts remained uncollectible, and the +British therefore retained their western posts and through them plied a +lucrative trade with the Indians to the south of the Great Lakes. + +In the years after the war, a steady flow of settlers entered the Ohio +valley, resuming the movement begun before the Revolution, and took up +land in Kentucky and the Northwest territory. By 1792 Kentucky {159} +was ready to be admitted as a State, and Tennessee and Ohio were +organized as territories. These settlers naturally found the Indians +opposing their advance, and the years 1783-1794 are a chronicle of +smouldering border warfare, broken by intermittent truces. During all +this time it was the firm belief of the frontiersmen that the Indian +hostility was stimulated by the British posts, and hatred of England +and the English grew into an article of faith on their part. +Ultimately, the new government under Washington undertook a decisive +campaign. At first, in 1791, General St. Clair, invading Ohio with raw +troops, was fearfully defeated, with butchery and mutilation of more +than two-thirds of his force; but in 1794 General Wayne, with a more +carefully drilled body, compelled the Indians to retreat. Yet with the +British posts still there, a full control was impossible. + +The new constitution, which gave the United States ample powers of +enforcing treaties and making commercial discriminations, did not at +once produce any alteration in the existing unsatisfactory situation. +Spain remained steadily indifferent and unfriendly. France, undergoing +the earlier stages of her own revolution, was incapable of carrying out +any consistent action. The Pitt Ministry, absorbed in the game of +European politics and in internal {160} legislation, sent a Minister, +Hammond, but was content to let its commercial and frontier policies +continue. But when, in 1792, the French Revolution took a graver +character, with the overthrow of the monarchy, and when in 1793 England +joined the European powers in the war against France, while all Europe +watched with horror and panic the progress of the Reign of Terror in +the French Republic, the situation of the United States was suddenly +changed. + +In the spring of 1793 there came the news of the war between England +and France, and, following it by a few days only, an emissary from the +French Republic, One and Indivisible, "Citizen Edmond Genet," arrived +at Charleston, South Carolina, April 15. There now exploded a sudden +overwhelming outburst of sympathy and enthusiasm for the French nation +and the French cause. All the remembered help of the days of Yorktown, +all the tradition of British oppression and ravages, all the recent +irritation at the British trade discrimination and Indian policy +coupled with appreciation of French concessions, swept crowds in every +State and every town into a tempest of welcome to Genet. Shipowners +rushed to apply for privateers' commissions, crowds adopted French +democratic jargon and manners. Democratic clubs were formed on the +model of the Jacobin {161} society, and "Civic Feasts," at which Genet +was present, made the country resound. It looked as though the United +States were certain to enter the European war as an ally of France out +of sheer gratitude, democratic sympathy, and hatred for England. The +French Minister, feeling the people behind him, hastened to send out +privateers and acted as though the United States were already in open +alliance. + +It now fell to the Washington administration to decide a momentous +question. Regardless of the past, regardless of the British policy +since the peace, was it worth while to allow the country to become +involved in war at this juncture? Decidedly not. Before Genet had +presented his credentials, Washington and Jefferson had framed and +issued a declaration of neutrality forbidding American citizens to +violate the law of nations by giving aid to either side. It was not +merely caution which led to this step. The Federalist leaders and most +of their followers--men of property, standing, and law-abiding +habits--were distinctly shocked at the horrors of the Reign of Terror, +and felt with Burke, their old friend and defender in Revolutionary +days, that such liberty as the French demanded was something altogether +alien to that known in the United States or in England. And as the +{162} news became more and more ghastly, the Federalists grew rapidly +to regard England, with all its unfriendliness, with all its commercial +selfishness, as the saving power of civilization, and France as the +chief enemy on earth of God and man. The result was to precipitate the +United States into a new contest, a struggle on the part of the +Federalist administration, led by Hamilton and Washington, to hold back +the country from being hurled into alliance with France or into war +with England. In this, they had to meet the attack of the already +organizing Republican party, and of many new adherents who flocked to +it during the years of excitement. + +The first contest was a short one. Genet, his head turned by his +reception, resented the strict neutrality enforced by the +administration, tried to compel it to recede, endeavoured to secure the +exit of privateersmen in spite of their prohibition, and ultimately in +fury appealed to the people against their government. This conduct +lost him the support of even the most sanguine democrats, and, when the +administration asked for his recall, he fell from his prominence +unregretted. But his successor, Fauchet, a less extreme man, was +warmly welcomed by the opposition leaders, including Madison and +Randolph, Jefferson's {163} successor as Secretary of State, and was +admitted into the inmost councils of the party. + +Hardly was Genet disposed of when a more dangerous crisis arose, caused +by the naval policy of England. When war broke out, the British +cruisers, as was their custom, fell upon French commerce, and +especially upon such neutral commerce as could, under the then +announced principles of international law, be held liable to capture. +Consequently, American vessels, plying their lucrative trade with the +French West Indies, were seized and condemned by British West India +prize courts. It was a British dogma, known as the Rule of 1756, that +if trade by a neutral with enemies' colonies had been prohibited in +peace, it became contraband in time of war, otherwise belligerents, by +simply opening their ports, could employ neutrals to do their trading +for them. In this case, the trade between the French West Indies and +America had not been prohibited in peace, but the seizures were made +none the less, causing a roar of indignation from the entire American +seacoast. Late in 1793, the British Ministry added fresh fuel to the +fire by declaring provisions taken to French territory to be contraband +of war. If an intention to force the United States into alliance with +France had been guiding the {164} Pitt Ministry, no better steps could +have been devised to accomplish the end. As a matter of fact, the Pitt +Ministry thought very little about it in the press of the tremendous +European cataclysm. + +When Congress met in December, 1793, the old questions of Hamilton's +measures and the "monarchism" of the administration were forgotten in +the new crisis. Apparently a large majority in the House, led by +Madison, were ready to sequester British debts, declare an embargo, +build a navy, and in general prepare for a bitter contest; but by great +exertions the administration managed to stave off these drastic steps +by promising to send a special diplomatic mission to prevent war. +During the summer the excitement grew, for it was in this year that +Wayne's campaign against the western Indians took place, which was +generally believed to be rendered necessary by the British retention of +the posts; and also in this same summer the inhabitants of western +Pennsylvania broke into insurrection against the hated excise tax. +This lawlessness was attributed by the Federalists, including +Washington himself, to the demoralizing influence of the French +Revolution, and was therefore suppressed by no less than 15,000 +militia, an action denounced by the Republicans--as Randolph confided +to the French Minister--as an example of {165} despotic brutality. Men +were fast coming to be incapable of cool thought on party questions. + +The special mission to England was undertaken by the Chief Justice, +Jay, the most experienced diplomat in America since the death of +Franklin. Upon arriving in England, he found the country wild with +excitement and horror over the French Revolution, and with all its +interest concentrated upon the effort to carry on war by land and sea. +The Pitt Ministry was now supported by all Tories, representing the +land-holding classes, the clergy, and the professions, and by nearly +all the aristocratic Whigs. Burke, one-time defender of the American +Revolution, was exhausting his energies in eloquent and extravagant +denunciations of the French. Only a handful of radicals, led by Fox, +Sheridan, and Camden, and representing a few constituents, still dared +to proclaim liberal principles. In all other classes of society, +democracy was regarded as synonymous with bestial anarchy and +infidelity. Clearly the United States, from its very nature as a +republic, could hope for no favour, in spite of the noticeably English +prepossessions of Hamilton's party. + +Jay dealt directly and informally with William Grenville, the Secretary +for Foreign Affairs, and seems rapidly to have come to {166} the +conclusion that it was for the interest of the United States to get +whatever it could, rather than to endeavour to haggle over details with +an immovable and indifferent Ministry, thereby hazarding all success. +On his part, Grenville clearly did his best to establish a practicable +working arrangement, agreeing with Jay in so framing the treaty as to +waive "principles" and "claims" and to include precise provisions. The +up-shot was that when Jay finished his negotiations he had secured a +treaty which for the first time established a definite basis for +commercial dealings and removed most of the dangerous outstanding +difficulties. British debts were to be adjusted by a mixed commission, +and American claims for unjust seizures in the West Indies were to be +dealt with in similar fashion. The British were to evacuate the +north-western military posts, and, while they did not withdraw or +modify the so-called "rule of 1756," they agreed to a clear definition +of contraband of war. They were also ready to admit American vessels +of less than seventy tons to the British West Indies, provided the +United States agreed not to export West India products for ten years. +Here Jay, as in his dealings with Gardoqui, showed a willingness to +make a considerable sacrifice in order to gain a definite small point. +On the whole, the treaty {167} comprised all that the Pitt Ministry, +engaged in a desperate war with the French Republic, was likely to +concede. + +The treaty left England in the winter of 1795 and reached America after +the adjournment of Congress. Although it fell far short of what was +hoped for, it still seemed to Washington wholly advisable to accept it +under the circumstances as an alternative to further wrangling and +probable war. Sent under seal of secrecy to the Senate, in special +session, its contents were none the less revealed by an opposition +senator, and a tempest of disappointment and anger swept the country. +In every seaport Jay was execrated as a fool and traitor and burned in +effigy. Washington watched unmoved. The Senate voted ratification by +a bare two-thirds, but struck out the West India article, preferring to +retain the power of re-exporting French West India produce rather than +to acquire the direct trade with the English islands. Washington added +his signature, the British government accepted the amendment, and the +treaty came into effect. The West India privilege was, in fact, +granted by the Pitt Ministry, as in the treaty, owing to the demands of +the West India planters. In America the storm blew itself out in a few +weeks of noise and anger, and the country settled down to make the best +of the privileges {168} gained, which, however incomplete, were well +worth the effort. + +So the Federalist administration kept the United States neutral, and +gave it at last a definite commercial status with England. It did +more, for in August, 1795, the north-western Indians, beaten in battle +and deprived of the presence of their protectors, made a treaty +abandoning all claims to the region south of Lake Erie. The Spanish +government, on hearing of the Jay treaty, came to terms in October, +1795, agreeing to the boundaries of 1783, granting a "right of deposit" +to American trades down the Mississippi at or near New Orleans, and +promising to abandon Indian intrigues. The diplomatic campaign of the +Federalists seemed to be crowned with general success. + +But in the process the passions of the American people had become +deeply stirred, and by the end of 1795 the Federalist party could no +longer, as at the outset, count on the support of all the mercantile +elements and all the townspeople, for, by their policy toward France +and England, Washington, Hamilton, and their associates had set +themselves against the underlying prejudices and beliefs of the voters. +The years of the strong government reaction were at an end. The time +had come to fight for party existence. + + + + +{169} + +CHAPTER IX + +THE TRIUMPH OF DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1795-1805 + +With the temporary shelving of British antagonism, the Federalist +administration passed its second great crisis; but it was immediately +called upon to face new and equally serious differences with France +which were ultimately to prove the cause of its downfall. The +fundamental difficulty in the political situation in America was that +the two parties were now so bitterly opposed as to render every +governmental act a test of party strength. The Republicans, who +accepted the leadership of Jefferson or of Clinton of New York, +comprised all who favoured democracy in any sense--whether that of +human equality, or local self-government, or freedom from taxes, or +sympathy with France--and all who had any grievance against the +administration, from frontiersmen whose cabins had not been protected +against Indians or who had been forced to pay a whisky tax, to seamen +whose ships had not been protected by the Jay treaty. In short, all in +whom still persisted the deep-rooted colonial traditions of opposition +to strong government and dislike of any but local authorities were +{170} summoned to oppose an administration on the familiar ground that +it was working against their liberties by corruption, usurpation, +financial burdens, and gross partisanship for England and against +France. + +On the other side, the Federalists were rapidly acquiring a state of +mind substantially Tory in character. They were coming to dread and +detest "democracy" as dangerous to the family and to society as well as +to government, and to identify it with the guillotine and the +blasphemies of the Worship of Reason. In the furious attacks which, +after the fashion of the day, the opposition papers hurled against +every act of the Federalist leaders, and which aimed as much to defile +their characters as to discredit their policies, they saw a pit of +anarchy yawning. Between parties so constituted, no alternative +remained but a fight to a finish; and, from the moment the Federalists +became genuinely anti-democratic, they were doomed. Only accident or +conspicuous success on the part of their leaders could delay their +destruction. A single false step on their part meant ruin. + +With the ratification of the Jay treaty, a long period of peaceful +relations began between England and the United States. The American +shipowners quickly adapted themselves to the situation, and were soon +{171} prosperously occupied in neutral commerce. In England, American +affairs dropped wholly out of public notice during the exciting and +anxious years of the war of the second coalition. The Pitt Ministry +ended, leaving the country under the grip of a rigid repression of all +liberal thought or utterance, and was followed by the commonplace +Toryism of Addington and his colleagues. Then came the Treaty of +Amiens with France, the year of peace, the renewed war in 1803, and, +after an interval of confused parliamentary wranglings, the return to +power of Pitt in 1804, called by the voice of the nation to meet the +crisis of the threatened French invasion. The United States was +forgotten, diplomatic relations sank to mere routine. Such were the +unquestionable benefits of the execrated treaty made by Jay and +Grenville. + +With France, however, American relations became suddenly strained, as a +result of the same treaty. The French Republic, in the year 1795, was +finally reorganized under a definite constitution as a Directorate--a +republic with a plural executive of five. This government, ceasing to +be merely a revolutionary body, undertook to play the game of grand +politics and compelled all the neighbouring smaller States to submit to +democratic revolutions, accept a constitution on the French model, and +become {172} dependent allies of the French Republic. The local +democratic faction, large or small, was in each case utilized to carry +through this programme, which was always accompanied with corruption +and plunder to swell the revenues of France and fill the pockets of the +directors and their agents. Such a policy the Directorate now +endeavoured, as a matter of course, to carry out with the United +States, expecting to ally themselves with the Jeffersonian party and to +bribe or bully the American Republic into a lucrative alliance. The +way was prepared by the infatuation with which Randolph, Jefferson, +Madison, and other Republican leaders had unbosomed themselves to +Fauchet, and also by an unfortunate blunder which had led Washington to +send James Monroe as Minister to France in 1794. This man was known to +be an active sympathizer with France, and it was hoped that his +influence would assist in keeping friendly relations; but his conduct +was calculated to do nothing but harm. When the news of the Jay treaty +came to France, the Directorate chose to regard it as an unfriendly +act, and Monroe, sharing their feelings, exerted himself rather to +mollify their resentment than to justify his country. + +In 1796 a new Minister, Adet, was sent to the United States to remain +only in case {173} the government should adopt a just policy toward +France. This precipitated a party contest squarely on the issue of +French relations. In the first place Congress, after a bitter struggle +and by a bare majority, voted to appropriate the money to carry the Jay +treaty into effect. This was a defeat for the French party. In the +second place, in spite of a manifesto issued by Adet, threatening +French displeasure, the presidential electors gave a majority of three +votes for Adams over Jefferson to succeed Washington. The election had +been a sharp party struggle, the whole theory of a deliberate choice by +electors vanishing in the stress of partisan excitement. After this +second defeat, the French Minister withdrew, severing diplomatic +relations; and French vessels began to capture American merchantmen, to +impress the country with the serious results of French irritation. The +Washington administration now recalled Monroe and sent C. C. Pinckney +to replace him, but the Directory, while showering compliments upon +Monroe, refused to receive Pinckney at all and virtually expelled him +from the country. In the midst of these annoying events, Washington's +term closed, and the sorely tried man, disgusted with party abuse and +what he felt to be national ingratitude, retired to his Virginia +estates, no longer {174} the president of the whole country, but the +leader of a faction. His Farewell Address showed, under its stately +phrases, his detestation of party controversy and his fears for the +future. + +Washington's successor, Adams, was a man of less calmness and +steadiness of soul; independent, but with a somewhat petulant habit of +mind, and nervously afraid of ceasing to be independent; a man of sound +sense, yet of a too great personal vanity. His treatment of the French +situation showed national pride and dignity as well as an adherence to +the traditional Federalist policy of avoiding war. Unfortunately, his +handling of the party leaders was so deficient in tact as to assist in +bringing quick and final defeat upon himself and upon them. + +The relations with France rapidly developed into an international +scandal. Adams, supported by his party, determined to send a mission +of three, including Pinckney, in order to restore friendly relations, +as well as to protest against depredations and seizures which the few +French cruisers at sea were now beginning to make. In the spring of +1798, however, the commission reported that its efforts had failed, and +Adams was obliged to lay its correspondence before Congress. This +showed that the great obstacle in the way of carrying on {175} +negotiations with the French had been the persistent demands on the +part of Talleyrand--the French Minister of Foreign Affairs--for a +preliminary money payment, either under the form of a so-called "loan" +or as a bribe outright. Such a revelation of venality struck dumb the +Republican leaders who had kept asserting their distrust of Adams's +sincerity and accusing the administration of injustice toward France. +It took all heart out of the opposition members of Congress, and +encouraged the Federalists to commit the government to actual +hostilities with the hated Democrats and Jacobins. Declaring the +treaties of 1778 to be abrogated, Congress authorized naval reprisals, +voted money and a loan, and so began what was called a "quasi-war," +since neither side made a formal declaration. Adams, riding on the +crest of a brief wave of popularity, declared in a message to Congress +that he would never send another Minister to France without receiving +assurances that he would be received as "befitted the representative of +a great, free, powerful, and independent nation." "Millions for +defence, but not a cent for tribute!" became the Federalist watch-word; +and, when the little navy of a few frigates and sloops began to bring +in French men-of-war and privateers as prizes, the country actually +felt a thrill of pride and {176} manhood. For the moment, the United +States stood side by side with England in fighting the dangerous enemy +of civilization. American Federalist and British Tory were at one; +Adams and Pitt were carrying on the same war. + +Unfortunately for the Federalists, they failed to appreciate the +fundamental differences between the situation in England and in the +United States, for they went on to imitate the mother country not +merely in fighting the French, but in seeking to suppress what they +felt to be dangerous "Jacobinical" features of American politics. In +the summer of 1798, three laws were enacted which have become +synonymous with party folly. Two--the Alien Acts--authorized the +President at his discretion to imprison or deport any alien, friend or +enemy; the third--the Sedition Act--punished by fine and imprisonment +any utterance or publication tending to cause opposition to a federal +law or to bring into contempt the federal government or any of its +officers. Such statutes had stood in England since 1793 and were used +to suppress democratic assailants of the monarchy; but such a law in +the United States could mean nothing more than the suppression by +Federalist courts of criticisms upon the administration made by +Republican newspapers. {177} It furnished every opposition agitator +with a deadly weapon for use against the administration; and when the +Sedition Law was actually enforced, and a half-dozen Republican editors +were subjected to fine or imprisonment for scurrilous but scarcely +dangerous utterances, the demonstration of the inherently tyrannical +nature of the Federalists seemed to be complete. It was an +unpardonable political blunder. + +Equally damaging to the prosperity of the Federalist party was the fact +that the French Republic, instead of accepting the issue, showed a +complete unwillingness to fight, and protested in public that it was +having a war forced upon it. Talleyrand showered upon the United +States, through every channel, official or unofficial, assurances of +kindly feelings, and, so soon as he learned of Adams's demand for a +suitable reception for an American Minister, gave the required +assurance in his exact words. Under the circumstances, the war +preparations of the Federalists became visibly superfluous, especially +a provisional army which Congress had authorized under Hamilton as +active commander. The opposition press and speakers denounced this as +a Federalist army destined to act against the liberties of the people; +and the administration could point to no real danger to justify its +existence. + +{178} + +So high ran party spirit that the Virginian leaders thought or affected +to think it necessary to prepare for armed resistance to Federalist +oppression; and Madison and Jefferson, acting through the State +legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky respectively, caused the adoption +of two striking series of resolutions stating the crisis in Republican +phraseology. In each case, after denouncing the Alien and Sedition +laws as unconstitutional, the legislatures declared that the +constitution was nothing more than a compact between sovereign States; +that the Federal government, the creature of the compact, was not the +final judge of its powers, and that in case of a palpable usurpation of +powers by the Federal government it was the duty of the States to +"interpose," in the words of Madison, or to "nullify" the Federal law, +as Jefferson phrased it. Such language seemed to Washington, Adams, +and their party to signify that the time was coming when they must +fight for national existence; but to the opposition it seemed no more +than a restatement of time-hallowed American principles of government, +necessary to save liberty from a reactionary faction. Party hatred now +rivalled that between revolutionary Whigs and Tories. + +Under these circumstances the election of 1800 took place. The +Federalist party {179} leaders, feeling the ground quaking under them, +clung the more desperately to the continuance of the French "quasi-war" +as their sole means for rallying popular support. But at this stage +President Adams, seeing the folly of perpetuating a sham war for mere +party advantage, determined to reopen negotiations. This precipitated +a bitter quarrel, for the members of his Cabinet and the leading +congressmen still regarded Hamilton, now a private citizen in New York, +as the real leader, and followed him in urging the continuance of +hostilities. Adams, unable to manage his party opponents openly, took +refuge in sudden, secret, and, as they felt, treacherous conduct and +sent nominations for a new French mission without consulting his +advisers. The Federalist Senate, raging at Adams's stupidity, could +not refuse to ratify the appointments, and so in 1799 the new mission +sailed, was respectfully received by Bonaparte, and was promptly +admitted to negotiations. + +The Federalist party now ran straight toward defeat; for, while the +leaders could not avoid supporting Adams for a second term, they hated +him as a blunderer and marplot. On his part, his patience exhausted, +Adams dismissed two of his secretaries, in a passion, in 1800. Later, +through the wiles of Aaron Burr, Republican leader in New {180} York, a +pamphlet, written by Hamilton to prove Adams's utter unfitness for the +Presidency, was brought to light and circulated. Against this +discredited and disorganized party, the Republicans, supporting +Jefferson again for the Presidency and thundering against the Sedition +Law, triumphantly carried a clear majority of electoral votes in the +autumn; but by a sheer oversight they gave an equal number for +Jefferson and for Burr, who was only intended for Vice-president. +Hence under the terms of the constitution it became necessary for the +House of Representatives to make the final selection, voting by States. +It fell thus to the lot of the Federalist House of 1800-1801 to choose +the next President, and for a while the members showed an inclination +to support Burr, as at least a Northerner, rather than Jefferson. But +better judgments ruled, and finally Jefferson was awarded the place +which he had in fairness won. The last weeks of Federalist rule was +filled with a discreditable effort to save what was possible from the +wreck. New offices were established, including a whole system of +circuit judgeships; and Adams spent his time up to the last hour of his +term in signing commissions, stealing away in the early morning in +order not to see the inauguration of his rival. + +{181} + +So fell the Federalist party from power. It had a brilliant record in +legislation and administration; it had created a new United States; it +had shown a statesmanship never equalled before or since on the +American continent; but it ruined itself by endeavouring openly to +establish a system of government founded on distrust of the people, and +modelled after British precedents. For a few years, England and the +United States approached nearer in government and policy than at any +other time. But, while in England a large part of society--the +nobility, gentry, middle classes, the professions, the church, and all +strong political elements--supported Pitt in suppressing free speech +and individual liberty, the Federalists represented only a minority, +and their social principles were abhorrent to the vast majority of the +inhabitants of the United States. + +The Republican party, which conquered by what Jefferson considered to +be a revolution no less important than that of 1776, represented a +reaction to the old ideals of government traditional in colonial +times,--namely as little taxation as possible, as much local +independence as could exist, and the minimum of Federal authority. +Jefferson professed to believe that the conduct of foreign relations +was the only important function of the central government, {182} all +else properly belonging to the States. So complete was the Republican +victory that the party had full power to put its principles into +effect. It controlled both Houses of Congress, and was blessed with +four years of peace and prosperity. Thomas Jefferson, for all his +radicalism in language, was a shrewd party leader, whose actions were +uniformly cautious and whose entire habit of mind favoured avoidance of +any violent change. "Scientific" with the general interests of a +French eighteenth-century "philosopher," he was limited in his views of +public policy by his education as a Virginia planter, wholly out of +sympathy with finance, commerce, or business. Under his guidance, +accordingly, the United States government was subjected to what he +called "a chaste reformation," rather than to a general overturning. + +All expenses were cut down, chiefly at the cost of the army and navy; +all appropriations were rigorously diminished, and all internal taxes +were swept away. Since commerce continued active, there still remained +a surplus revenue, and this Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treasury, +applied to extinguishing the debt. A few of the more important Federal +offices were taken from embittered Federalists and given to +Republicans, but there was no general {183} proscription of +office-holders. The only action at all radical in character was the +repeal of the law establishing new circuit judgeships, a step which +legislated a number of Federalists out of office. The repeal was +denounced by fervid Federalist orators as a violation of the +constitution and a death-blow to the Union; but the appointments under +the law itself had been so grossly partisan that the country was +unalarmed. With these steps the Republican reaction ended. Jefferson +and his party carried through no alteration of the central departments; +they abandoned no Federal power except that of imposing an excise; they +did not even repeal the charter of the National Bank. The real change +lay in the more strictly economical finances and in the general spirit +of government. The Federalist opposition, criticizing every act with +bitterness and continually predicting ruin, found that under the +"Jacobins" the country remained contented and prosperous and was in no +more danger of atheism or the guillotine than it had been under Adams. +So matters went on, year after year, the Federal government playing its +part quietly and the American people carrying on their vocations in +peace and prosperity. + +Jefferson's general theory of foreign affairs was based on the idea +that diplomacy was {184} mainly a matter of bargain and sale, with +national commerce as the deciding factor. He believed so firmly that +national self-interest would lead all European powers to make suitable +treaties with the United States that he considered the navy as wholly +superfluous, and would have been glad to sell it. But when +circumstances arose calling for a different sort of diplomacy, he was +ready to modify his methods; and he so far recognized the unsuitability +of peaceful measures in dealing with the Barbary corsairs as to permit +the small American navy to carry on extensive operations during 1801-3, +which ended in the submission of Tripoli and Algiers. + +Simultaneously, Jefferson was brought face to face with a diplomatic +crisis, arising from the peculiar actions of his old ally, France. At +the outset of his administration, he found the treaty made by Adams's +commissioners in 1800 ready for ratification, and thus began his career +with all questions settled, thanks to his predecessor. But he had been +in office only a few months when the behaviour of the Spanish officials +at New Orleans gave cause for alarm; for they suddenly terminated the +right of deposit, granted in 1795. It was quickly rumoured that the +reason was to be found in the fact that France, now under the First +Consul, Napoleon, {185} had regained Louisiana. It was, in fact, true. +Bonaparte overthrew the Directory in 1799 and established himself, +under the thin disguise of "First Consul," as practical military despot +in France. He had immediately embraced the idea of establishing a +western colonial empire, which should be based on San Domingo, now +controlled by insurgent negroes, and which should include Louisiana. +By a treaty of October 1, 1800, he compelled Spain to retrocede the +former French province in return for a promise to establish a kingdom +of "Etruria" for a Spanish prince. During 1802 large armaments sailed +to San Domingo and began the process of reconquest. It needed only the +completion of that task for Napoleon to be ready to take over +Louisiana, and thereby to gain absolute control over the one outlet +from the interior territories of the United States. + +Jefferson at once recognized the extreme gravity of the situation. +During the years after the English, Spanish, and Indian treaties, +emigrants had steadily worked their way into the inner river valleys. +Western New York and Pennsylvania were rapidly filling, Ohio was +settled up to the Indian treaty line, Kentucky and Tennessee were +doubling in population, and fringes of pioneer communities stretched +along the Ohio and {186} Mississippi rivers. In 1796 Tennessee was +admitted as a State, and Ohio was now, in 1801, on the point of asking +admission. For France to shut the only possible outlet for these +communities would be a sentence of economic death; and Jefferson was so +deeply moved as to write to Livingston, his Minister to France, that if +the rumour of the cession were true, "We must marry ourselves to the +British fleet and nation." The United States must fight rather than +submit. He sent Monroe to France, instructed to buy an outlet, but the +latter only arrived in time to join with Livingston in signing a treaty +for the purchase of the whole of Louisiana. + +This startling event was the result of the failure of Napoleon's forces +to reconquer San Domingo. Foreseeing the loss of Louisiana in case of +the probable renewal of war with England, and desirous of money for +immediate use, the Corsican adventurer suddenly threw Louisiana into +the astonished hands of Livingston and Monroe. He had never, it is +true, given Spain the promised compensation; he had never taken +possession, and he had promised not to sell it; but such trifles never +impeded Napoleon, nor, in this case, did they hinder Jefferson. When +the treaty came to America, Congress was quickly convened, the Senate +voted to ratify, the money was appropriated, and the whole {187} vast +region was bought for the sum of sixty million francs. Jefferson +himself, the apostle of a strict construction of the constitution, +could not discover any clause authorizing such a purchase; but his +party was undisturbed, and the great annexation was carried through, +Jefferson acquiescing in the inconsistency. + +The chagrin of the Federalists at this enormous south-westward +extension of the country was exceeded only by their alarm when an +attempt was made to eject certain extremely partisan judges from their +offices in Pennsylvania and on the Federal bench by the process of +impeachment. In the first two cases the effort was successful, one +Pennsylvania judge and one Federal district judge being ejected; but +when, in 1805, the attack was aimed at the Pennsylvania supreme +justices and at Justice Chase of the United States Supreme Court, the +process broke down. The defence of the accused judges was legally too +strong to be overcome, and each impeachment failed. With this the last +echo of the party contest seemed to end, for by this time the +Federalists were too discredited and too weak to make a political +struggle. Their membership in Congress had shrunk to small figures, +they had lost State after State, and in 1804 they practically let +Jefferson's re-election go by default. He received all but fourteen +{188} electoral votes, out of 176. Some of the New England leaders +plotted secession, but they were not strong enough for that. The party +seemed dead. In 1804 its ablest mind, Hamilton, was killed in a duel +with Burr, the Vice-president, and nobody remained capable of national +leadership. + +So the year 1805 opened in humdrum prosperity and national +self-satisfaction. Jefferson could look upon a country in which he +held a position rivalled only by that of a European monarch or an +English prime minister. The principles of Republican equality, of +States' rights, of economy and retrenchment, of peace and local +self-government seemed triumphant beyond reach of attack. While Europe +resounded with battles and marches, America lived in contented +isolation, free from the cares of unhappy nations living under the +ancient ideals. + + + + +{189} + +CHAPTER X + +THE SECOND PERIOD OF COMMERCIAL ANTAGONISM, 1805-1812 + +In the year 1805, the happy era of Republican prosperity and complacency +came suddenly and violently to an end, for by this time forces were in +operation which drew the United States, in utter disregard of Jefferson's +theories, into the sweep of the tremendous political cyclone raging in +Europe. In 1803, Napoleon forced England into renewed war, and for two +years endeavoured by elaborate naval manoeuvres to secure control of the +Channel for a sufficient time to permit him to transport his "Grand Army" +to the British shore. In 1805, however, these plans broke down; and the +crushing defeat of the allied French and Spanish navies at Trafalgar +marked the end of any attempt to challenge British maritime supremacy. +The great military machine of the French army was then turned eastward +against the armies of the coalition which England, under Pitt, was +forming; and in a series of astonishing campaigns it was used to beat +down the Austrians in 1805 at Austerlitz; to overwhelm the Prussians in +1806 at Jena and Auerstadt; and to force the Russians, after {190} a +severe winter campaign in East Prussia, to come to terms in 1807. +Napoleon and the Tsar, Alexander, meeting on the bridge at Tilsit, July +7, divided Europe between them by agreeing upon a policy of spheres of +interest, which left Turkey and the Orient for Russian expansion and all +the beaten western monarchies for French domination. The Corsican +captain, trampling on the ruins both of the French monarchy and the +French Republic, stood as the most terrible and astounding figure in the +world, invincible by land, the master of Europe. + +But the withdrawal of the French from any attempt to contest the sea left +England the equally undisputed master of all oceans, and rendered the +French wholly dependent upon neutral nations for commerce. As French +conquests led to annexations of territory in Italy and in Germany, these +regions also found themselves unable to import with their own vessels, +and so neutral commerce found ever-increasing markets dependent upon its +activity. Now the most energetic maritime neutral power was the United +States, whose merchantmen hastened to occupy the field left vacant by the +practical extinction of the French carrying trade. Until 1807 they +shared this with the Scandinavian countries; but after that year +Napoleon, by threats and the terror {191} of his name, forced an +unwelcome alliance upon all the States of Europe, and the United States +became the sole important neutral. + +In these circumstances, the merchant shipping of the United States +flourished enormously, the more especially since, by importing and +immediately re-exporting West India products from the French islands, +Yankee skippers were able to avoid the dangerous "Rule of 1756," and to +send sugar and cocoa from French colonies to Europe and England under the +guise of American produce. By 1805, the whole supply of European sugar +was carried in American bottoms, to the enormous profit of the United +States. American ships also shared largely in the coasting trade of +Europe, carrying goods between ports where British ships were naturally +excluded. In fact, the great prosperity and high customs receipts to +which the financial success of the Jeffersonians was due depended to a +great extent on the fortunate neutral situation of the United States. + +By 1805, the British shipowners felt that flesh and blood could not +endure the situation. Here were France and her allies easily escaping +the hardships of British naval pressure by employing neutrals to carry on +their trade. Worse still, the Americans, by the device of entering and +clearing {192} French sugar at an American port, were now able calmly to +take it to England and undersell the West Indian planters in their own +home markets. Pamphleteers began to criticize the government for +permitting such unfair competition, Lord Sheffield, as in 1783, leading +the way. In October, 1805, James Stephen, a far abler writer, summed up +the anger of the British ship-owners and naval officers in a pamphlet +entitled, "War in disguise, or the Frauds of the Neutral Trade." He +asserted that the whole American neutral commerce was nothing more or +less than an evasion of the Rule of 1756 for the joint benefit of France +and the United States, and he called upon the government to put a stop to +this practical alliance of America with Napoleon. This utterance seems +to have made a profound impression; for a time Stephen's views became the +fixed beliefs of influential public men as well as of the naval and +shipowning interests. + +The first steps indicating British restlessness were taken by the Pitt +Ministry, which began, in 1804, a policy of rigid naval search for +contraband cargoes, largely carried on off American ports. Whatever +friendly views Pitt may once have entertained toward the Americans, his +Ministry now had for its sole object the contest with {193} France and +the protection of British interests. In July, 1805, a severe blow was +suddenly struck by Sir William Scott, who as chief Admiralty judge +rendered a decision to the effect that French sugar, entered at an +American custom-house and re-exported with a rebate of the duty, was good +prize under the Rule of 1756. This placed all American re-exportation of +French West Indian produce at the mercy of British cruisers; and the +summer of 1805 saw a sudden descent of naval officers upon their prey, +causing an outcry of anger from every seaport between Maine and Maryland. +The day of reckoning had come, and Jefferson and Madison, his Secretary +of State, were compelled to meet the crisis. Fortunately, as it +appeared, for the United States, the Pitt Ministry ended with the death +of its leader on January 23, 1806, and was succeeded by a coalition in +which Lord Grenville, author of the Jay treaty, was prime Minister, and +Fox, an avowed friend of America, was Foreign Secretary. While it was +not reasonably to be expected that any British Ministry would throw over +the traditional naval policy of impressments or venture to run directly +counter to shipping interests, it was open to anticipation that some such +compromise as the Jay treaty might be agreed upon, which would relieve +the United {194} States from arbitrary exactions during the European war. +The Grenville Ministry showed its good intentions by abandoning the +policy of captures authorized by Scott, and substituting, on May 16, +1806, a blockade of the French coast from Ostend to the Seine. This +answered the purpose of hindering trade with France without raising +troublesome questions, and actually allowed American vessels to take +sugar to Northern Europe. + +Between 1804 and 1806, Jefferson had brought the United States to the +verge of war with Spain through insisting that Napoleon's cession of +Louisiana had included West Florida. At the moment when British seizures +began, he was attempting at once to frighten Spain by warlike words and, +by a payment of two million dollars, to induce France to compel Spain to +acknowledge the American title to the disputed territory. For a number +of years, therefore, and until the scheme fell through, Jefferson +cultivated especially friendly relations with the government of Napoleon, +not from any of the former Republican enthusiasm, but solely on +diplomatic grounds. Hence, although nominally neutral in the great war, +he bore the appearance of a French partisan. + +Jefferson felt that he had in his possession a thoroughly adequate means +to secure {195} favourable treatment from England, by simply threatening +commercial retaliation. The American trade, he believed, was so +necessary to the prosperity of England that for the sake of retaining it +that country would make any reasonable concession. That there was a +basis of truth in this belief it would be impossible to deny; for England +consumed American cotton and exported largely to American markets. With +this trade cut off, manufacturers and exporters would suffer, as they had +suffered in the revolutionary period. But Jefferson ignored what every +American merchant knew, that military and naval considerations weighed +fully as heavily with England as mercantile needs, and that a country +which had neither a ship-of-the-line, nor a single army corps in +existence, commanded, in an age of world warfare, very slight respect. +Jefferson's prejudice against professional armed forces and his ideal of +war as a purely voluntary matter, carried on as in colonial times, was +sufficiently proclaimed by him to be well understood across the Atlantic. +Openly disbelieving in war, avowedly determined not to fight, he +approached a nation struggling for life with the greatest military power +on earth, and called upon it to come to terms for business reasons. + +His first effort was made by causing {196} Congress to pass a +Non-importation Act, excluding certain British goods, which was not to go +into effect until the end of 1806. With this as his sole weapon, he sent +Monroe to make a new treaty, demanding free commerce and the cessation of +the impressment of seamen from American vessels in return for the +continued non-enforcement of the Non-importation Act. Such a task was +more difficult than that laid upon Jay twelve years before; and Monroe, +in spite of the fact that he was dealing with the same Minister, failed +to accomplish even so much as his predecessor. From August to December +he negotiated, first with Lord Holland, then, after Fox's death, with +Lord Howick; but the treaty which he signed on December 1, 1806, +contained not one of the points named in his instructions. Monroe found +the British willing to make only an agreement like the Jay treaty which, +while containing special provisions to render the situation tolerable, +should refuse to yield any British contentions. That was the Whig policy +as much in 1806 as it had been in 1766. The concessions were slight; and +the chief one, regarding the re-exportation of French West Indian +produce, permitted it only on condition that the goods were bona fide of +American ownership, and had paid in the United States a duty of at least +two per cent. Jefferson {197} did not even submit the treaty to the +Senate. + +After this failure, the situation grew graver. Napoleon, in December, +1806, issued from Berlin a decree declaring that, in retaliation for the +aggressions of England upon neutral commerce, the British Isles were in +blockade and all trade with them was forbidden. British goods were to be +absolutely excluded from the continent. The reply of the Grenville +Ministry to this was an Order in Council, January, 1807, prohibiting +neutral vessels from trading between the ports of France or her allies; +but this was denounced as utterly weak by Perceval and Canning in +opposition. In April, 1807, the Grenville Ministry, turned out of office +by the half insane George III, was replaced by a thoroughly Tory cabinet, +under the Duke of Portland, whose chief members in the Commons were +George Canning and Spencer Perceval, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of +the Exchequer respectively. The United States was now to undergo +treatment of a new kind at the hands of Tories who despised its +institutions, felt only contempt for the courage of its government, and +were guided as regards American commerce by the doctrines of Lord +Sheffield and James Stephen. + +An Order in Council of November 11, {198} 1807, drafted by Perceval and +endorsed by all the rest of the Cabinet, declared that no commerce with +France or her allies was henceforward to be permitted unless it had +passed through English ports. To this Napoleon retorted by the Milan +Decree of December, 1807, proclaiming that all vessels which had been +searched by British, or which came by way of England, were good prize. +Henceforth, then, neutral commerce was positively prohibited. The +merchantmen of the United States could continue to trade at all only by +definitely siding with one power or the other. The object of the British +order was declared to be retaliation on Napoleon. Its actual effect was +to place American trade once more under the rule of the Navigation Acts. +As in the days before 1776, American vessels must make England their +"staple" or "entrepot," and could go only where permitted to by British +orders under penalty of forfeiture. This measure was sharply attacked in +Parliament by the Whigs, especially by Grenville and Howick, of the late +Ministry, but was triumphantly sustained by the Tories. + +At this time the chronic grievance of the impressment of seamen from +American vessels grew suddenly acute. In the years of the great war, the +American merchant marine, {199} with its safe voyages and good pay, +offered a highly attractive prospect for English sailors, who dreaded the +danger, the monotony, and the severe discipline of British men-of-war. +They swarmed by thousands into American service, securing as rapidly as +possible, not infrequently by fraudulent means, the naturalization papers +by which they hoped to escape the press-gang. Ever since 1793 British +naval officers, recognizing no right of expatriation, had systematically +impressed British seamen found on American ships and, owing to the +difficulty in distinguishing the two peoples, numerous natives of New +England and the middle States found themselves imprisoned on the +"floating hell" of a British ship-of-the-line in an epoch when brutality +characterized naval discipline. In August, 1807, the United States was +stirred to fury over the forcible seizure by the British _Leopard_ of +three Englishmen from the U.S.S. _Chesapeake_, which, unprepared for +defence, had to suffer unresisting. So hot was the general anger that +Jefferson could easily have led Congress into hostile measures, if not an +actual declaration of war, over the multiplied seizures and this last +insult. + +But Jefferson clung to peace, and satisfied himself by ordering British +men-of-war out of American ports and sending a {200} demand for +reparation, with which he linked a renunciation of the right of +impressment. When Congress met in December, he induced it to pass a +general embargo, positively prohibiting the departure of American vessels +to foreign ports. Since at the same time the Non-importation Act came +into effect, all imports and exports were practically suspended. His +idea was that the total cessation of American commerce would inflict such +discomfort upon British and French consumers that each country would be +forced to abandon its oppressive measures. + +Rarely has a country, at the instance of one man, inflicted a severer +strain upon its citizens. The ravages of French and English together, +since the outbreak of war in 1793, did not do so much damage as the +embargo did in one year, for it threatened ruin to every shipowner, +importer, and exporter in the United States. Undoubtedly Jefferson and +his party had in mind the success of the non-importation agreements +against the Stamp Act and the Townshend duties, but what was then the +voluntary action of a great majority was now a burden imposed by one part +of the country upon another. The people of New York and New England +simply would not obey the Act. To enforce it against Canada became an +impossibility, and to prevent vessels from escaping a {201} matter of +great difficulty. Jefferson persisted doggedly, and induced Congress to +pass laws giving revenue collectors extraordinary powers of search and +seizure, but without results. + +Under this intolerable grievance, the people of the oppressed regions +rapidly lost their enthusiasm for the Democratic administration. Turning +once more to the Federalist party, which had seemed practically extinct, +they threw State after State into its hands, and actually threatened the +Republican control in the Presidential election of 1808. Had a coalition +been arranged between the disgusted Republican factions of New York and +Pennsylvania and the Federalists of New England, Delaware, and Maryland, +James Madison might well have been beaten for successor to Jefferson. +But worse remained behind. The outraged New Englanders, led by Timothy +Pickering and others, began to use again, in town-meetings and +legislatures, the old-time language of 1774, once employed against the +Five Intolerable Acts, and to threaten secession. As Jefferson said +later, "I felt the foundations of the government shaken under my feet by +the New England townships." + +By this time, it was definitely proved that as a means of coercion the +embargo was worthless. English manufacturers and their {202} workmen +complained, but English ship-owners profited, and crowds of British +seamen returned perforce to their home, even at times into the royal +navy. Canning, for the Portland Ministry, sarcastically declined to be +moved, observing that the embargo, whatever its motives, was practically +the same as Napoleon's system, and England could not submit to being +driven to surrender to France even to regain the American market or +relieve the Americans from their self-inflicted sufferings. Napoleon now +gave an interesting taste of his peculiar methods, for on April 17, 1808, +he issued the Bayonne Decree, ordering the confiscation of all American +vessels found in French ports, on the ground that, since the embargo +prohibited the exit of American ships, these must, in reality, be +English! Thus he gathered in about eight million dollars' worth. The +policy had to be abandoned, and in the utmost ill-humour Congress +repealed the embargo, on March 1, 1809, substituting non-intercourse with +England and France. Thus Jefferson left office under the shadow of a +monumental failure. His theory of commercial coercion had completely +broken down; and he had damaged his own and his party's prestige to such +an extent that the moribund Federalist organization had sprung to life +and threatened the existence of the Union. + +{203} + +From this time onward, the New Englanders assumed the character of +ultra-admirers of Great Britain. True, their vessels suffered from +British seizures; but no British confiscations had done them such harm as +the embargo, or taken such discreditable advantage of a transparent +pretext as the Bayonne Decree. Belonging to the wealthy classes, they +admired and respected England as defender of the world's civilization +against Napoleon, and they detested Jefferson and Madison as tools of the +enemy of mankind. They justified impressments, spoke respectfully of the +British doctrines of trade, and corresponded freely with British public +men. They stood, in short, exactly where the Republicans had stood in +1793, supporters of a foreign power with which the Federal administration +was in controversy. In Congress and outside, they made steady, bitter +menacing attacks on the integrity and honesty of the Republicans. + +Under Jefferson's successor, the policy of commercial pressure was +carried to its impotent conclusion. At first the action of the British +government seemed to crown Madison with triumph. In the winter of 1809, +the majority in Congress had talked freely of substituting war for the +embargo; and at the same time the Whigs in Parliament, led by Grenville, +had attacked Canning for his {204} insolence toward the United States as +likely to cause war. Whitbread called attention to the similarity +between the conditions in 1809 and 1774, when "the same infatuation +seemed to prevail," the same certainty existed that the Americans would +not fight, and the same confident assertions were made that they could +not do without England. The comparison possessed much truth, for the +Tories of 1809 were as indifferent to American feelings as those of 1774, +and pushed their commercial policy just as North had done his political +system, in the same contemptuous certainty that the Americans would never +fight. Yet Canning showed sufficient deference to his assailants to +instruct Erskine, British Minister at Washington, to notify Madison that +the Orders would be withdrawn in case the United States kept its +non-intercourse with France, recognized the Rule of 1756, and authorized +British men-of-war to enforce the Non-intercourse Act. + +The immediate result was surprising, for Erskine, eager to restore +harmony, did not disclose or carry out his instructions, but accepted the +continuance by the United States of non-intercourse against France as a +sufficient concession. He announced that the Orders in Council would be +withdrawn on June 10; Madison in turn promptly issued a proclamation +reopening trade, and {205} swarms of American vessels rushed across the +Atlantic. But Canning, in harsh language, repudiated the arrangement of +his over-sanguine agent, and Madison was forced to the mortifying step of +reimposing non-intercourse by a second proclamation. Still worse +remained, for when F. J. Jackson, the next British Minister, arrived, the +President had to undergo the insult of being told that he had connived +with Erskine in violating his instructions. The refusal to hold further +relations with the blunt emissary was a poor satisfaction. All this +time, moreover, reparation for the _Chesapeake_ affair was blocked, since +it had been coupled with a demand for the renunciation of impressments, +something that no British Ministry would have dared to yield. + +On the part of Napoleon, the Non-intercourse Act offered another +opportunity for plunder. When he first heard of Erskine's concessions, +he was on the point of meeting them, but on learning of their failure he +changed about, commanded the sequestration of all American vessels +entering European ports, and in May, 1810, by the Rambouillet Decree, he +ordered their confiscation and sale. The ground assigned was that the +Non-intercourse Act forbade any French or English vessel to enter +American ports under penalty of confiscation. {206} None had been +confiscated, but they might be. Hence he acted. Incidentally he helped +to fill his treasury, and seized about ten millions of American property. + +By this time it was clear to most Americans that, however unfriendly the +British policy, it was honesty itself compared to that of the Emperor, +whose sole aim seemed to be to ensnare American vessels for the purpose +of seizing them. The Federalists in Congress expatiated on his perfidy +and bare-faced plunder, but nothing could shake the intention of Madison +to stick to commercial bargaining. Congress now passed another Act, +destined to be the last effort at peaceful coercion. Trade was opened, +but the President was authorized to reimpose non-intercourse with either +nation if the other would withdraw its decrees. This Act, known always +as the Macon Bill No. 2, became law in May, 1810, and Napoleon +immediately seized the occasion for further sharp practice. He caused an +unofficial, unsigned letter to be shown to the American Minister at Paris +stating that the French decrees would be withdrawn on November 2, 1810, +"it being understood that the English should withdraw theirs by that time +or the United States should cause its rights to be respected by England." +Madison accordingly reimposed non-intercourse with {207} England on the +date named, and considered the French decrees withdrawn. The situation +was regarded by him as though he had entered into a contract with +Napoleon, which compelled him to assert that the decrees were at an end, +although he had no other evidence than the existence of the situation +arising from the Macon Bill. + +There followed a period during which the American Minister at London, +William Pinkney, endeavoured without success to convince the British +government that the decrees actually were withdrawn. The Portland +Ministry had fallen in 1809, and the sharp-tongued Canning was replaced +in the Foreign Office by the courteous Marquess Wellesley; but Spencer +Perceval, author of the Orders in Council, was Prime Minister and stiffly +determined to adhere to his policy. James Stephen and George Rose, in +Parliament, stood ready to defend them, and the Tory party as a whole +accepted their necessity. When, therefore, Pinkney presented his request +to Wellesley, the latter naturally demanded something official from +Napoleon, which neither Pinkney nor Madison could supply. Finally, in +February, 1811, Pinkney broke off diplomatic relations and returned home, +having played his difficult part with dignity. To aggravate the +situation Napoleon's cruisers continued, {208} whenever they had a +chance, to seize and burn American vessels bound for England, and his +port authorities to sequester vessels arriving from England. The decrees +were not in fact repealed. + +Madison had committed himself, however, to upholding the honour of +Napoleon--a task from which any other man would have recoiled--and the +United States continued to insist on a fiction. Madison's conduct in +this affair was that of a shrewd lawyer-like man who tried to carry on +diplomacy between two nations fighting to the death as though it were a +matter of contracts, words and phrases of legal meaning. To Napoleon, +legality was an incomprehensible idea. To the Tory ministries, +struggling to maintain their country against severe economic pressure, +facts, not words, counted, and facts based on naval force. Upon the +Jeffersonian and Madisonian attempts at peaceful coercion they looked +with mingled annoyance and contempt, believing, as they did, that the +whole American policy was that of a weak and cowardly nation trying by +pettifogging means to secure favourable trade conditions. The situation +had reached a point where the United States had nothing to hope from +either contestant, by continuing this policy. + +At this juncture a new political force {209} appeared. By 1811 the +old-time Republican leaders, trained in the school of Jeffersonian +ideals, were practically bankrupt. Faction paralyzed government, and +Congress seemed, by its timid attitude, to justify the taunt of Quincy of +Massachusetts that the Republican party could not be kicked into a war. +But there appeared on the stage a new sort of Republican. In the western +counties of the older States and in the new territories beyond the +mountains, the frontier element, once of small account in the country and +wholly disregarded under the Federalists, was multiplying, forming +communities and governments, where the pioneer habits had created a +democracy that was distinctly pugnacious. Years of danger from Indians, +of rivalry with white neighbours over land titles, of struggle with the +wilderness, had produced a half-lawless and wholly self-assertive type of +man, as democratic as Jefferson himself, but with a perfect willingness +to fight and with a great respect for fighters. To these men, the +tameness with which the United States had submitted to insults and +plundering was growing to be unendurable. Plain masculine anger began to +obscure other considerations. + +These Western men, moreover, had a special cause for indignation with +England, {210} which was ignored by the sea-coast communities, in the +close connection which they firmly believed to exist between the British +administration of upper Canada and the north-western Indians. In the +years after 1809, the Indian question again began to assume a dangerous +form. Settlers were coming close to the treaty lines, and, to satisfy +their demands for the bottom lands along the Wabash River, Governor +Harrison of Indiana Territory made an extensive series of land purchases +from the small tribes on the coveted territory. + +But there now appeared two remarkable Indians, Tecumseh and his brother, +the Prophet, of the Shawnee tribe, who saw in the occupation of the red +men's hunting lands and the inroads of frontier corn whiskey the death of +all their race. These leaders began to hold their own tribe together +against the purchase of whiskey or the sale of lands; then, with wider +vision, they tried to organize an alliance of all the north-western +Indians to prevent further white advance. They even went so far as to +visit the south-western Indians, Creeks and Cherokees, to induce them to +join in the grand league. The very statesmanship involved in this vast +scheme rendered it dangerous in the eyes of all Westerners, who were +firmly convinced that the backing of {211} this plan came from the +British posts in Canada. There was, in reality, a good understanding +between the Canadian officers and the Shawnee chiefs. In 1811 +hostilities broke out at Tippecanoe, where Governor Harrison had a sharp +battle with the Shawnees; but Tecumseh exerted himself to restore +peaceful relations, although the frontier was in great excitement. + +From the States of Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, and from the inner +counties of the southern States there came to the first session of the +Eleventh Congress, in December, 1811, a group of young politicians--Henry +Clay, John Calhoun, Langdon Cheves, Felix Grundy--who felt that the time +for talk was at an end. Unless England immediately revoked its decrees, +ceased impressing seamen, and refrained from instigating Indian plots +there must be war. Assuming control of the House, with Clay in the +Speaker's chair, they transformed the Republican party and the policy of +the country. They pushed through measures for raising troops, arming +ships, and borrowing money. Congress rang with fiery speeches, as month +after month went by and the Perceval Ministry obstinately refused to stir +from its commercial policy. + +Yet the feeling of the English public was already undergoing a change. +By 1812 the {212} pretence that the Orders in Council were maintained for +the purpose of starving out France was growing transparent when thousands +of licences, granted freely to British vessels, permitted a vast fleet to +carry on the supposedly forbidden trade. Although Perceval and Canning +still insisted in Parliament that the Orders were retaliatory, the fact +was patent that their only serious effect was to cause the loss of the +American trade and the American market. At the threat of war, the +exporters of England, suffering severely from glutted markets, began a +vigorous agitation against Perceval's policy and bombarded the Ministry, +through Henry Brougham, with petitions, memorials, and motions which put +the Tories on the defensive. Speakers like Alexander Baring held up the +system of Orders in Council as riddled with corruption, and only the +personal authority of Perceval and Castlereagh kept the majority firm. +At the height of this contest, Perceval was assassinated, on May 11, +1812; and it was not until June 8 that hope of a new coalition was +abandoned, and the Tory Cabinet was definitely reorganized under Lord +Liverpool. Almost the first act of that Ministry was to bow before the +storm of petitions, criticisms, and complaints, and to announce on June +16 that they had decided to suspend the Orders. {213} Thus the very +contingency upon which Jefferson and Madison had counted came to pass. +The British government, at the instance of the importing and +manufacturing classes, yielded to the pressure of American commercial +restrictions. It was true that the danger of war weighed far more, +apparently, than the Non-intercourse Act; but had there been an Atlantic +cable, or even a steam transit, at that time, or had the Liverpool +Ministry been formed a little earlier, the years 1807-1812 might have +passed into history as a triumphant vindication of Jefferson's theories. + +But it was too late. Madison, seeing, apparently, that his plans were a +failure, fell in with the new majority, and after deliberate preparation +sent a message to Congress in June, 1812, which was practically an +invitation to declare war. In spite of the bitter opposition of all +Federalists and many eastern Republicans, Congress, by the votes of the +southern and western members, adopted a declaration of war on June 18, +committing the United States to a contest with the greatest naval power +in the world on the grounds of the Orders in Council, the impressment of +seamen, and the intrigues with the north-western Indians. At the moment +when Napoleon, invading Russia, began his last stroke for universal +empire, the United {214} States entered the game as his virtual ally. +This was something the Federalists could not forgive. They returned to +their homes, execrating the war as waged in behalf of the arch-enemy of +God and man, as the result of a pettifogging bit of trickery on the part +of Napoleon. They denounced the ambitions of Clay and the Westerners, +who predicted an easy conquest of Canada, as merely an expression of a +pirate's desire to plunder England of its colonies, and they announced +their purpose to do nothing to assist the unrighteous conflict. In their +anger at Madison, they were even willing to vote for De Witt Clinton of +New York, who ran for President in 1812 as an Independent Republican; and +the coalition carried the electoral vote of every State north of Maryland +except Pennsylvania and Vermont. + +When the news of the repeal of the Orders in Council crossed the +Atlantic, some efforts were made by the governor-general of Canada to +arrange an armistice, hoping to prevent hostilities. But Madison does +not seem to have seriously considered abandoning the war, even though the +original cause had been removed. Feeling the irresistible pressure of +the southern and western Democrats behind him, he announced that the +contest must go on until England should {215} abandon the practice of +impressment. So the last hope of peace disappeared. + +The war thus begun need never have taken place, had the Tory Ministries +of Portland or Perceval cared to avert it. The United States only lashed +itself into a war-like mood after repeated efforts to secure concessions, +and after years of submission to British rough handling. During all this +time, either Madison or Jefferson would gladly have accepted any sort of +compromise which did not shut American vessels wholly out from some form +of independent trade. But the enmity of the British shipowners and naval +leaders and the traditional British commercial policy joined with +contempt for the spiritless nation to prevent any such action until the +fitting time had gone by. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE WAR FOR "SAILORS' RIGHTS" AND WESTWARD EXPANSION, 1812-1815 + +The second war between the United States and the mother country, unlike +the first, was scarcely more than a minor {216} annoyance to the +stronger party. In the years 1812-1814, England was engaged in +maintaining an army in Spain, in preying on French commerce by blockade +and cruising, and was spending immense sums to subsidize the European +nations in their final struggle against Napoleon. The whole military +and financial strength of the country, the whole political and +diplomatic interest were absorbed in the tremendous European contest. +Whig and Tory, landowner, manufacturer, and labourer were united in +unbending determination to destroy the power of the Corsican. The +Liverpool Ministry contained little of talent, and no genius, but the +members possessed certain traits which sufficed to render others +unnecessary, namely, an unshakable tenacity and steady hatred of the +French. The whole country stood behind them on that score. + +In these circumstances, the English, when obliged to fight the United +States, were at liberty to send an overwhelming naval force to blockade +or destroy American commerce, but were in great straits to provide men +to defend Canada. It was not until a full year after the declaration +of war that any considerable force of regular troops could be collected +and sent there, and not for two years that anything approaching a +genuine army could be directed against America. {217} The defence of +Canada had to be left to the efforts of some few officers and men and +such local levies as could be assembled. + +On the side of the United States, the war was bound to take the form of +an effort to capture all or part of Canada, for that was the only +vulnerable British possession. On the sea the United States could hope +at most to damage British commerce by means of the few national +cruisers and such privateers as the shipowners of the country could +send out. Without a single ship-of-the-line and with only five +frigates, there existed no possibility of actually fighting the British +navy. But on land it seemed as though a country with a population of +over seven millions ought to be able to raise armies of such size as to +overrun, by mere numbers, the slender resources of Canada; and it was +the confident expectation of most of the western leaders that within a +short time the whole region would be in American hands. "The +acquisition of Canada this year," wrote Jefferson, "as far as the +neighbourhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will +give us experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and the final +expulsion of England from the American continent." + +Unfortunately for the success of these dreams, the policy of the +Republican administrations had been such as to set up {218} insuperable +difficulties. The regular army, reduced under Jefferson's "passion for +peace" to a bare minimum, was scattered in a few posts; the War +Department was without means for equipping, feeding, and transporting +bodies of troops; the whole mechanism of war administration had to be +created. Further, the Secretary of the Army and nearly all the +generals were elderly men, veterans of the Revolutionary Army, who had +lost whatever energy they once possessed. The problem of war finances +was rendered serious by the fact that revenue from the tariff, the sole +important source of income, was sure to be cut off by the British naval +power. The National Bank had been refused a new charter in 1811, and +the government, democratic in its finances as in other matters, relied +upon a hundred odd State banks of every degree of solvency for aid in +carrying on financial operations. + +The temper of the American people was exactly what it had been in +colonial days. They regarded war as a matter to be carried on at the +convenience of farmers and others, who were willing to serve in defence +of their homes, but strongly objected to enlisting for any length of +time. On the more pugnacious frontier, the prevailing military ideal +was that of the armed mob or crowd--a body of fighters following a +chosen leader against Indians. {219} Everywhere the elementary +conceptions of obedience and duty were unknown. The very men who +wished for war were unwilling to fight except on their own terms. + +Still more fatal to military efficiency was the fact that the +Federalists, and many of the northern Republicans, inhabiting the +regions abutting on Canada, were violently opposed to the war, wished +to see it fail, and were firmly resolved to do nothing to aid the +administration. The utmost the Federalists would do was to defend +themselves if attacked, but they would do that on their own +responsibility and not under federal orders. + +The only exception to this prevailing unmilitary condition was to be +found in the navy, where, through cruising and through actual service +against the Barbary corsairs, a genuinely trained body of officers and +men had been created. Unable to do more than give a good account of +themselves on the ocean in single combats, these officers found a +chance on the northern lakes to display a fighting power and skill +which is one of the few redeeming features of the war on the American +side. + +In 1812 hostilities began with a feeble attempt on the part of the +United States to invade Canada, an effort whose details are of interest +only in showing how impossible {220} it is for an essentially +unmilitary people to improvise warfare. Congress had authorized a +loan, the construction of vessels, and the enlistment of an army of +36,000 men; but the officers appointed to assemble a military force +found themselves unable, after months of recruiting and working, to +gather more than half that number of raw troops, with a fluctuating +body of State militia. With these rudiments of a military force, +attempts to "invade" Canada were made in three directions--from +Detroit, from the Niagara River, and from the northern end of Lake +Champlain. + +To meet these movements, there were actually less than 2,800 British +soldiers west of Montreal; but fortunately they were commanded by Isaac +Brock, an officer of daring and an aggressive temper. He at once +entered into alliance with Tecumseh and the western Indians, and thus +brought to the British assistance a force of hundreds of warriors along +the Ohio and Kentucky frontier. While General Hull, with about 2,000 +troops, mainly volunteers from the West, marched under orders to +Detroit and then, in July, invaded upper Canada, the outlying American +posts at Chicago and Mackinac were either captured or destroyed by the +Indians. Brock, gathering a handful of men, marched against Hull, +terrified him for the safety of {221} his communications with the +United States, forced the old man to retreat to Detroit, and finally, +by advancing boldly against the slight fortifications of the post, +frightened him into surrender. Hull had been set an impossible task, +to conquer upper Canada with no sure means of getting reinforcements or +supplies through a region swarming with Indians; but his conduct +indicated no spark of pugnacity, and his surrender caused the loss of +the entire north-west. Tecumseh and his warriors now advanced against +the Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio frontiers; and the nameless horrors of +Indian massacre and torture surged along the line of settlements. The +frontiersmen flew to arms. General Harrison, with a commission from +Kentucky, headed a large expedition to regain lost ground; but he only +succeeded in building forts in north-western Ohio and waging a +defensive war against the raids of Tecumseh and the British general, +Proctor, Brock's successor. + +At Niagara, no move was made until the late autumn, when two American +generals in succession--Van Rensselaer and Smyth--tried to lead a +motley array of militia and regulars across the river. Brock met the +first detachment and was killed in a skirmish, but his men were able to +annihilate the main attack, on the brink of the river, while several +thousand American militia, {222} refusing, on constitutional grounds, +to serve outside the jurisdiction of their state, watched safely from +the eastern bank. The second effort in November, under General Smyth, +proved an even worse fiasco. Meanwhile General Dearborn, the supreme +commander, tried to invade near Lake Champlain; but, after he had +marched his troops to the Canadian border, the militia refused to leave +the soil of the United States, and so the campaign had to be abandoned. +The military efforts of the United States were, as the Canadian +historian phrases it, "beneath criticism." + +The only redeeming feature of the year was the record of the little +American navy and the success of the privateers, who rushed to prey +upon British commerce. Upwards of two hundred British vessels were +captured, while all but about seventy American ships reached home +safely. The British sent squadrons of cruisers, but were unable to +begin a blockade. Their aim was to capture American men-of-war as +rapidly as possible, to prevent their doing damage, so they +unhesitatingly attacked American vessels whenever they met them, +regardless of slight differences in size or gun-power. The British +sea-captain of the day had a hearty contempt for Americans, and never +dreamed that their navy could be any more dangerous than the {223} +French. To the unlimited delight of the American public, and the +stupefaction of England, five American cruisers in succession captured +or sank five British in the autumn of 1812, utilizing superior weight +of broadside and more accurate gunnery with merciless severity. These +blows did no actual damage to a navy which comprised several hundred +frigates and sloops, but the moral effect was great. It had been +proved that Americans, after all, could fight. + +In 1813 there was a change in administrative officers. Doctor Eustis +was replaced in the War Department by John Armstrong, who had served in +the Revolution, and William Jones of Philadelphia succeeded Paul +Hamilton as Secretary of the Navy. Congress authorized more men, to +the number of 58,000, and more ships, and voted more loans. Finally, +in the summer it was actually driven to impose internal taxes like +those which, when imposed by Federalists, had savoured of tyranny. + +On the northern frontier, renewed efforts were made to collect a real +army, and, with late comprehension of the necessities of the case, +naval officers were sent to build flotillas to control Erie, Ontario, +and Champlain. On their part, the British Ministry sent out a few +troops and officers to Canada, but {224} relied this year chiefly upon +a strict blockade, which was proclaimed first in December, 1812, and +was extended, before the end of the year, to cover the entire coast, +except New England. Ships-of-the-line, frigates, and sloops patrolled +the entrances to all the seaports, terminating not only foreign but +coastwise commerce. + +Things went little if any better for the United States. The army was +on paper 58,000 men; but the people of the north and west would not +enlist. The utmost efforts at recruiting did not succeed in bringing +one-half the nominal force into the field. The people would not take +the war seriously, and the administration was helpless. To make +matters worse, not only did the north-western frontier agonize under +Indian warfare, but the south-west became involved, when, in August, +1813, the Creek Indians, affected by Tecumseh's influence, rose and +began a war in Tennessee and Georgia. For months Andrew Jackson, +General of Tennessee militia, with other local commanders, carried on +an exhausting and murderous conflict in the swamps and woods of the +south-west. The war was now assuming the character of the last stand +of the Indians before the oncoming whites. + +In the north-west, decisive blows were struck in this year by General +Harrison and {225} Commander Perry. The latter built a small fleet of +boats, carrying in all fifty-four guns, and sailed out to contest the +control of Lake Erie. Captain Barclay, the British commander, with +scantier resources, constructed a weaker fleet, with sixty-three +lighter guns, and gallantly awaited the Americans on September 9. In a +desperately fought battle, Perry's sloop, the _Lawrence_, was +practically destroyed by the concentrated fire of the British; but the +greater gun-power of the Americans told, and the entire British +flotilla was compelled to surrender. This enabled Harrison, who had +been waiting for months in his fortifications, to advance and pursue +Proctor into upper Canada. On October 5 he brought him to action near +the river Thames, winning a complete victory and killing Tecumseh. The +Americans then returned to Detroit, and the Indian war gradually +simmered down, until in August, 1814, the leading tribes made peace. +To the eastward no such decisive action took place. Sir James Yeo and +Commodore Chauncey, commanding the British and American vessels +respectively on Lake Ontario, were each unwilling to risk a battle +without a decisive superiority; and the result was that no serious +engagement occurred. This rendered it impossible for either side to +attain any military success in that region; and so the year 1813 {226} +shows only a succession of raids, a species of activity in which the +British proved much the more daring and efficient. During one of these +affairs, General Dearborn occupied the Canadian town of York, now +Toronto, and burned the public buildings--an act of needless +destruction for which the United States was destined to pay heavily. +Further eastward, General Wilkinson and General Hampton began a joint +invasion of lower Canada, Wilkinson leading a force of over 6,000 men +down the St. Lawrence, Hampton advancing with 4,000 from Lake Champlain +toward the same goal, Montreal. But at Chrystler's Farm, on November +11, the rearguard of Wilkinson's army suffered a thorough defeat at the +hands of a small pursuing force; and Hampton underwent a similar +repulse from an inferior body of French-Canadians under Colonel de +Salaberry, at Chateauguy, on October 25. Finally, Hampton, suspecting +that Armstrong and Wilkinson intended in case of any failure to throw +the blame on him, decided to withdraw, November 11, and Wilkinson +followed. The whole invasion came to an inglorious conclusion. + +At sea the uniform success of American cruisers came to a stop, for, +out of four naval duels, two were British victories, notably the taking +of the unlucky _Chesapeake_ by the {227} _Shannon_. Only where +privateers and sloops swept West Indian waters and hung about British +convoys was there much to satisfy American feelings; and all the while +the blockading squadrons cruised at their ease in Chesapeake and +Delaware bays and Long Island Sound. The country was now subjected to +increasing distress from the stoppage of all commerce; not only was the +Federal government sorely pinched from loss of tariff revenue, but the +New England towns suffered from starvation prices for food products, +while in the middle and southern States grain was used to feed the +cattle or allowed to rot. + +For the season of 1814, it was necessary again to try to build up +armies; and now the time was growing short during which the United +States could hope to draw advantage from the preoccupation of England +in the European struggle. During the winter of 1814, the final +crushing of Napoleon took place, ending with his abdication and the +restoration of the Bourbons. Simultaneously, the British campaign in +Spain was carried to its triumphant conclusion, and after April British +armies had no further European occupation. Unless peace were made, or +unless the United States gained such advantages in Canada as to render +the British ready to treat, it was practically certain that the {228} +summer would find the full power of the British army, as well as the +navy, in a position to be directed against the American frontier and +the American sea-coast. + +Congress, however, did nothing new. It authorized a loan, raised the +bounty for enlistments, voted a further increase of the army, and +adjourned. Armstrong, the Secretary of War, succeeded in replacing the +worn-out veterans who had mismanaged the campaigns of 1812-1813 with +fighting generals, younger men, such as Jacob Brown, Scott, Ripley, and +Jackson, the Indian fighter; but he could not induce men to enlist any +more freely, nor did he show any ability in planning operations. So +events dragged on much as before. + +On Lake Ontario, Chauncey and Yeo continued their cautious policy, +building vessels continually and never venturing out of port unless for +the moment in overwhelming force. The result was that first one then +the other controlled the lake; but they never met. The only serious +fighting took place near Niagara, where General Brown, with a little +force of 2,600 men, tried to invade Canada, and was met first by +General Riall, and later by General Drummond, with practically equal +forces. Here the Americans actually fought, and fought hard, winning a +slight success at Chippawa on July 5, and engaging {229} in a drawn +battle at Lundy's Lane on July 25. Later forced to take refuge in Fort +Erie, Brown made a successful defence against Drummond, and obliged him +to abandon an effort at siege. Here, as in the naval combats, the +military showing of the Americans was at last creditable; but the +campaign was on too trivial a scale to produce any results. In the +south-west this year, Jackson pushed through his attack on the Creeks +to a triumphant conclusion, and in spite of mutinous militia and +difficult forests compelled the Indians on August 9, 1814, to purchase +peace by large cessions of land. + +By the middle of the summer, however, the British were ready to lay a +heavy hand on the United States and punish the insolent country for its +annoying attack in the rear. New England was now subjected to the +blockade, and troops from Wellington's irresistible army were sent +across, some to the squadron in the Chesapeake, others to Canada, and +later still others in a well-equipped expedition to New Orleans to +conquer the mouth of the Mississippi. + +The Chesapeake squadron, after raiding and provisioning itself at the +expense of the Virginia and Maryland farmers, made a dash at +Washington, sending boats up the Patuxent and Potomac rivers, and +landing a body of about 2,000 men. On August 24, with absurd {230} +ease, this force scattered in swift panic a hasty collection of +militia, and entered Washington, sending the President and Cabinet +flying into the country. In retaliation for the damage done at York, +the British officers set fire to the capital and other public +buildings, before retreating swiftly to their ships. A similar attack +on Baltimore, September 11, was better met, and, although the British +routed a force of militia, the attempt to take the city was abandoned. +The humiliation of the capture of Washington led to the downfall of +Armstrong as Secretary of State, although not until after he had almost +ruined another campaign. + +While the British were threatening Washington, another force was +gathering north of Lake Champlain, and a large frigate was being built +to secure command of that lake. By the end of August, nearly 16,000 +men, most of them from Wellington's regiments, were assembled to invade +New York, probably with the intention of securing the permanent +occupation of the northern part. In the face of this, Armstrong sent +most of the American troops at Plattsburg on a useless march across New +York State, leaving a bare handful under General McComb to meet the +invasion. When Sir George Prevost, Governor-General of Canada, +advanced to Plattsburg on September 6, he found nothing {231} but +militia and volunteers before him. Fortunately for the United States, +Prevost was no fighter, and he declined to advance or attack unless he +had a naval control of the lake. On September 11 the decisive contest +took place. McDonough, the American commander, with a small squadron, +entirely defeated and captured the British flotilla under Downie. It +was Lake Erie over again, with the difference that in this battle the +American fleet was not superior to the British. It was a victory due +to better planning and better gunnery, and it led to the immediate +retreat of Prevost, who tamely abandoned the whole campaign, to the +intense mortification of his officers and men. The remaining +expedition, under General Pakenham, comprising 16,000 Peninsular +veterans, under convoy of a strong fleet, sailed to the Gulf of Mexico +and advanced to capture New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson was at +hand, and with him a mass of militia and frontiersmen. Driven by the +furious energy of the Indian fighter, the Americans showed +aggressiveness and courage in skirmishes and night attacks, and finally +won an astounding victory on January 8, 1815. On that day the British +force tried to storm, by frontal attack, a line of intrenchments armed +with cannon and packed with riflemen. In twenty-five minutes their +columns were so badly cut up by {232} grapeshot and musketry that the +whole attack was abandoned, after Pakenham himself had been killed. +The expedition withdrew, and sailing to Mobile, a town in Spanish +territory, occupied by the Americans, retook it on February 11; but the +main purpose of their invasion was foiled. + +In this year, while American land forces struggled to escape +destruction, the naval vessels were for the most part shut in by the +blockade. Occasional captures were still made in single combat; but +British frigates were now under orders to refuse battle with the larger +American vessels, and the captures by sloops were counterbalanced by +the British capture of the frigate _Essex_ by two antagonists in March, +1814. Practically the only extensive operations carried on were by +American privateers, who now haunted the British Channel and captured +merchantmen within sight of the English coasts. The irritation caused +by these privateers was excessive, and made British shipowners and +merchants anxious for peace; but it had no effect on the military +situation. England was not to be subdued by mere annoyance. + +By the end of 1814, the time seemed to be at hand when the United +States must submit to peace on such terms as England chose to dictate, +or risk disruption and ruin. The administrative weaknesses of the +country {233} culminated in actual financial bankruptcy, which was due +in no small part to the fact that Federalist financiers and bankers, +determining to do all the damage possible, steadily refused to +subscribe to the loans or to give any assistance. The powerful New +England capital was entirely withheld. The result was that the strain +on the rest of the banks became too great; and after the capture of +Washington they all suspended specie payment, leaving the Government +only the notes of suspended banks, or its own depreciated treasury +notes for currency. All the coin in the country steadily flowed into +the vaults of New England banks, while the Federal Treasury was +compelled, on November 9, 1814, to admit its inability to pay interest +on its loans. Congress met in the autumn and endeavoured to remedy the +situation by chartering a bank; but under the general suspension of +specie payments it was impossible to start one solvent from the +beginning. When Congress authorized one without power to suspend +specie payments, Madison vetoed it as useless. All that could be done +was to issue more treasury notes. As for the army, a Bill for +compulsory service was brought in, showing the enormous change in +Republican ideals; but it failed to pass. Congress seemed helpless. +The American people would neither enlist for the war nor {234} +authorize their representatives to pass genuine war measures. + +The Federalists, controlling most of the New England States, now felt +that the time had come to insist on a termination of their grievances. +Their governors had refused to allow militia to assist, their +legislatures had done nothing to aid the war; their capitalists had +declined to subscribe, and their farmers habitually sold provisions to +the British over the Canadian boundary, actually supplying Sir George +Prevost's army by contract. There met, at Hartford, on December 14, +1814, a convention of leading men, officially or unofficially +representing the five New England States, who agreed upon a document +which was intended to secure the special rights of their region. They +demanded amendments to the Constitution abolishing the reckoning of +slaves as basis for congressional representation, providing for the +partial distribution of government revenues among the States, +prohibiting embargoes or commercial warfare, or the election of +successive Presidents from the same State, and requiring a two-thirds +vote of Congress to admit new States or declare war. This was meant +for an ultimatum; and it was generally understood that, if the Federal +government did not submit to these terms, the New England States would +secede to {235} rid themselves of what they considered the intolerable +oppression of Virginian misgovernment. + +Such was the state of things in the winter of 1815. The administration +of Madison had utterly failed to secure any of the ends of the war, to +inflict punishment on Great Britain, or to conquer Canada. It had also +utterly failed to maintain financial solvency, to enlist an army, to +create a navy capable of keeping the sea, or to prevent a movement in +New England which seemed to be on the verge of breaking the country +into pieces. But to lay this miserable failure--for such only can it +be called--to the personal discredit of Jefferson and Madison is +unfair, for it was only the repetition under new governmental +conditions of the old traditional colonial method of carrying on war as +a local matter. The French and Indian War, the Revolution, and the War +of 1812, repeated in different generations the same tale of amateur +warfare, of the occasional success and usual worthlessness of the +militia, the same administrative inefficiency, and the same financial +breakdown. Without authority and obedience, there can be carried on no +real war; and authority and obedience were no more known and no better +appreciated in 1812 than they had been in the days of Washington. +Jefferson, Madison, {236} and their party had gone with the current of +American tradition; that was their only fault. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +END OF THE ANTAGONISM: A CENTURY OF PEACE + +When the American war began, the English showed a tendency to blame the +Tory administration for permitting it to take place; but the chief +feeling, after all, was one of annoyance at Madison and his party for +having decided to give their assistance to Napoleon at the crisis of +his career. The intercourse between Englishmen and New England +Federalists had given British society its understanding of American +politics and coloured its natural irritation toward the Republican +administration with something of the deeper venom of the outraged New +Englanders, who saw in Jefferson and his successors a race of +half-Jacobins. During 1812 and 1813, accordingly, newspapers and +ministerial speakers, when they referred to the contest, generally +spoke of the necessity of {237} chastising an impudent and presumptuous +antagonist. A friendly party such as had defended the colonists during +the Revolution no longer existed, for the Whigs, however antagonistic +to the Liverpool Ministry, were fully as firmly committed to +maintaining British naval and commercial supremacy. + +England's chief continental ally, however, the Tsar Alexander, +considered the American war an unfortunate blunder; and, as early as +September, 1812, he offered his mediation through young John Quincy +Adams, Minister at St. Petersburg. The news reached America in March, +1813, and Madison revealed his willingness to withdraw from a contest +already shown to be unprofitable by immediately accepting and +nominating Adams, with Bayard and Gallatin, to serve as peace +commissioners. Without waiting to hear from England, these envoys +started for Russia, but reached there only to meet an official refusal +on the part of England, dated July 5, 1813. The Liverpool Ministry did +not wish to have the American war brought within the range of European +consideration, since its settlement under such circumstances might +raise questions of neutral rights which would be safer out of the hands +of a Tsar whose predecessors had framed armed neutralities in 1780 and +1801. Accordingly, the British government intimated politely that +{238} it would be willing to deal directly with the United States, and +thus waved the unwelcome Russian mediation aside. Madison accepted +this offer in March, 1814; but, although the American commissioners +endeavoured through Alexander Baring, their friend and defender in +Parliament, to get the British government to appoint a time and place +for meeting, they encountered continued delays. + +A considerable element in the Tory party felt that the time had come to +inflict a severe punishment upon the United States, and newspapers and +speakers of that connection announced freely that only by large +concessions of territory could the contemptible republic purchase +peace. When the Ministry finally sent commissioners to Ghent, on +August 8, 1814, it was not with any expectation of coming to a prompt +agreement, but merely to engage the Americans while the various +expeditions then under way took Washington and Baltimore, occupied +northern New York, and captured New Orleans. It was generally expected +that a few months would find large portions of the United States in +British possession, as was in fact the sea-coast of Maine, east of +Penobscot Bay, after September first. + +The instructions to the British peace commissioners were based on the +_uti possedetis_, {239} as the British government intended it to be by +the end of the year, when they expected to hold half of Maine, the +northern parts of New York, New Hampshire and Vermont, the +north-western post of Mackinnac, and possibly New Orleans and Mobile. +In addition, there was to be an Indian territory established under +British guarantee west of the old treaty line of 1795, and all American +fishing rights were to be terminated. On the other side, the American +instructions, while hinting that England would do well to cede Canada, +made the abandonment of the alleged right of impressments by England a +_sine qua non_. Clearly no agreement between such points of view was +possible; and the outcome of the negotiation was bound to depend on the +course of events in the United States. The first interviews resulted +in revealing that part of the British instructions related to the +Indian territory with intimations of coming demands for territorial +cessions. This the Americans instantly rejected on August 25, and the +negotiation came to a standstill for several weeks. + +The three British negotiators, Admiral Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and +Doctor Adams were men of slight political or personal authority, and +their part consisted chiefly in repeating their instructions and +referring American replies back to Lord Castlereagh, {240} the Foreign +Secretary, or to Lord Bathurst, who acted as his substitute while he +attended the Congress of Vienna. The American commissioners, including +the three original ones, Adams, Bayard, and Gallatin, to whom Clay and +Russell of Massachusetts were now added, clearly understood the +situation, and had already warned Madison that an insistence on the +abandonment of impressments would result in the failure to secure any +treaty. In October, 1814, a despatch yielded this point and left the +negotiators to make the best fight they could, unhampered by positive +instructions. Undoubtedly they would have been compelled to submit to +hard terms, in spite of their personal ability, which stood exceedingly +high, had not news of the repulse at Baltimore, of the treaty of July, +1814, by which the north-western Indians agreed to fight the English, +and, on October 17, of the retreat of Sir George Prevost after the +defeat of Plattsburg, come in to change the situation. + +Between August and October little had been accomplished, during a slow +interchange of notes, beyond a withdrawal by the British of their +demand for an Indian territory, and an acceptance in its place of an +agreement to include the Indians in a general peace. Then the Cabinet, +seeing that after Prevost's retreat they could no longer claim the +{241} territory outlined in the first instructions, authorized the +negotiators to demand only Mackinac and Niagara, with a right of way +across Maine. The Americans, encouraged by the news from Plattsburg, +replied on October 23, refusing to treat on the _uti possedetis_, or on +any terms but the _status quo ante_. This brought the Tory government +face to face with the question whether the war was to be continued for +another year for the purpose of conquering a frontier for Canada; and, +before the prospect of continued war taxation, annoyance from +privateers, and a doubtful outcome, they hesitated. Turning to +Wellington for a decision, they asked him whether he would accept the +command in America for the purpose of conquering a peace. His reply +showed little interest or desire to go, although he seemed confident of +success; but he observed that, on the basis of the military situation, +they had no right to demand any territorial cession. + +The Ministry then, on November 18, definitely abandoned the claim for +compensation, and accepted as a basis for discussion a plan submitted +by the American commissioners. In the preparation of this a sharp +quarrel had broken out between Clay, who insisted on terminating the +British right to navigate the Mississippi, and Adams, who {242} +demanded the retention of the American right to fish in Canadian +waters. Gallatin pointed out that the two privileges stood together, +and with great difficulty he induced the two men to agree to the +omission of both matters from the treaty, although Clay refused until +the last to sign. So the commission presented a united front in +offering to renew both rights or postpone them for discussion; and the +British commissioners finally accepted the latter alternative. The +treaty was then signed in the old Carthusian Convent at Ghent, on +December 24, 1814, as a simple cessation of hostilities and return to +the _status quo ante_ as regards conquests. Not a word related to any +of the numerous causes of the war. Impressments, blockades, Orders in +Council, the Indian relations, the West Indian trade rights,--all were +abandoned. So far as the United States was concerned the treaty was an +acknowledgment of defeat, a recognition that the war was a failure. + +In view of the hopes of Canadian gains, the treaty was denounced in +England by the Opposition journals and many of those most antagonistic +to America as a cowardly surrender. But it was none the less heartily +accepted by both peoples and both governments. It reached the United +States on February 11, was sent to the Senate on February 15, and +ratified unanimously the next day. There {243} still remained various +vessels at sea, and so the winter of 1815 saw not only the amazing +victory of Jackson at New Orleans, but also several naval actions, in +which the United States frigate _President_ was taken by a squadron of +British blockades, two American sloops in duels took two British +smaller vessels, and the American _Constitution_, in a night action, +captured, together, two British sloops. Then the news spread, and +peace finally arrived in fact. + +In England, the whole affair was quickly forgotten in the tremendous +excitement caused by the return of Napoleon from Elba, the uprising of +Europe, and the dramatic meeting of the two great captains, Wellington +and Napoleon, in the Waterloo campaign. By the time the Napoleonic +Empire had finally collapsed, the story of the American war, with its +maritime losses and scanty land triumphs, was an old one, and the +British exporters, rushing to regain their former markets, were happy +in the prospect of the reopening of American ports. By October, trade +relations were re-established and the solid intercourse of the two +countries was under way. + +In America all disgraces and defeats were forgotten in the memories of +New Orleans, Plattsburg, and Chippawa, and the people at large, willing +to forgive all its failures to the {244} Republican administration, +resumed with entire contentment the occupations of peace. The war +fabric melted like a cloud; armies were disbanded, vessels were called +home, credit rose, prices sprang upward, importations swelled, +exportation began. + +In truth, the time of antagonism was at an end, for, with the European +peace of 1814, the immediate cause for irritation was removed, never to +return. The whole structure of blockades, Orders in Council, seizures, +and restrictions upon neutrals vanished; the necessity for British +impressments ceased to exist; and, since France never again came into +hostility with England, none of these grievances were revived. But in +a broader way the year 1815 and the decades following marked the end of +national hostility, for the fundamental antagonisms which, since 1763, +had repeatedly brought about irritation and conflict, began after this +time to die out. + +In the first place, the defeat of the Indians in the war allowed the +people of the United States to advance unchecked into the north-west +and south-west, filling the old Indian lands, and rendering any +continuation of the restrictive diplomacy on the part of England for +the benefit of Canadian fur traders patently futile. The war was no +sooner ended than roads, trails, and rivers swarmed {245} with +westward-moving emigrants; and within a year the territory of Indiana, +which the British commissioners at Ghent had wished to establish as an +Indian reserve, was framing a State constitution. In 1819 Illinois +followed. + +The revulsion of temper was illustrated in the commencement at this +time of the organized movement for settled international peace, which +may be dated from the establishment of the New York and Massachusetts +Peace Societies in 1815, and the London Peace Society in the following +year. But its most signal expression came in the remarkable agreement +by which the Canadian-American frontier has been, for nearly a century, +unfortified, and yet completely peaceful. On November 16, 1815, State +Secretary Monroe instructed Adams to propose to the British Government +that--as, "if each party augments its force there with a view to +obtaining the ascendancy over the other, vast expense will be incurred +and the danger of collision augmented in like degree"--such military +preparations should be suspended on both sides. The smaller the number +of the armed forces agreed upon, he said, the better; "or to abstain +altogether from an armed force beyond that used for the revenue." +After some suspicious hesitation, Lord Castlereagh accepted this novel +proposal; and it was {246} given effect to by an exchange of notes, +signed by Mr. Bagot, British Minister at Washington, and Mr. Rush +(Monroe's successor) on April 28 and 29, 1817, approved by the Senate a +year later, and proclaimed by the President on April 28, 1818. By +Rush-Bagot Agreement, the naval force of each Government was limited to +one small gun-boat of each power on Champlain and Ontario, and two on +the upper lakes, an arrangement of immense value to both Canada and the +United States. + +The old-time commercial antagonism was also destined to disappear in a +few years after the close of the war. At first England clung to the +time-honoured West Indian policy, and, when in 1815 the two countries +adjusted their commercial relations, American vessels were still +excluded, although given the right to trade directly with the East +Indies. But already the new economic thought, which regarded +competition and reciprocal trade as the ideal, instead of legal +discriminations and universal protectionism, was gaining ground, as +England became more and more the manufacturing centre of the world. +Under Huskisson, in 1825, reciprocity was definitely substituted for +exclusion; and a few years later, under Peel and Russell, and within +the lifetime of men who had maintained the Orders in Council, the whole +{247} elaborate system of laws backed by the logic of Lord Sheffield +and James Stephen was cast away and fell into disrepute and oblivion. + +In America, it should be added, the rush of settlers into the West and +the starting of manufactures served, within a few years from the end of +the War of 1812, to alter largely the former dependence of the United +States upon foreign commerce. By the time that England was ready to +abandon its restrictive policy, the United States was beginning to be a +manufacturing nation with its chief wealth in its great internal trade, +and the ancient interest in the West Indies was fast falling into +insignificance. The same men who raged against the Jay treaty and the +Orders in Council lived to forget that they had ever considered the +West India trade important. So, on both sides, the end of commercial +antagonism was soon to follow on the Treaty of Ghent. + +Finally, and more slowly, the original political and social antagonism +ceased to be active, and ultimately died out. So far as the United +States was concerned, the change was scarcely visible until +three-quarters of a century after the Treaty of Ghent. The temper of +the American people, formed by Revolutionary traditions and nourished +on memories of battle and injuries, remained {248} steadily +antagonistic toward England; and the triumph of western social ideals +served to emphasize the distinction between the American democrat and +the British aristocrat, until dislike became a tradition and a +political and literary convention. But the emptiness of this normal +national hatred of John Bull was shown in 1898, when, at the first +distinct sign of friendliness on the part of the British government and +people, the whole American anglophobia vanished, and the people of the +continent realized that the time had come for a recognition of the +essential and normal harmony of the ancient enemies. + +In England, the change began somewhat earlier, for within less than a +generation after the Treaty of Ghent the exclusive Tory control +collapsed, and the Revolution of 1832 gave the middle classes a share +of political power. A few years later the Radicals, representing the +working-men, became a distinct force in Parliament, and to middle class +and Radicals there was nothing abhorrent in the American Republic. +Aristocratic society continued, of course, as in the eighteenth +century, to regard the United States with scant respect, and those +members of the upper middle classes who took their social tone from the +aristocracy commonly reflected their prejudices. But the masses of +{249} the British people--whose relatives emigrated steadily to the +western land of promise--felt a genuine sympathy and interest in the +success of the great democratic experiment, a sympathy which was far +deeper and more effective than had been that of the eighteenth-century +Whigs. From the moment that these classes made their weight felt in +government, the time was at hand when the old social antagonism was to +die out, and with it the deep political antipathy which, since the days +of 1793, had tinged the official British opinion of a democratic state. +The last evidence of the Tory point of view came when, in 1861, the +American Civil War brought out the unconcealed aversion of the British +nobility and aristocracy for the northern democracy; but on the +occasion the equally unconcealed sense of political and social sympathy +manifested by the British middle and working classes served to prevent +any danger to the United States, and to keep England from aiding in the +disruption of the Union. + +Thus the Treaty of Ghent, marking the removal of immediate causes of +irritation, was the beginning of a period in which the under-lying +elements of antagonism between England and the United States were +definitely to cease. When every discount is made, the celebration, +heartily supported by the national leaders on {250} both sides, of a +century of peace between the British, Canadian, and American peoples, +does exhibit, in Sir Wilfred Laurier's words, "a spectacle to astound +the world by its novelty and grandeur." + + + + +{251} + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +The references to the epoch covered in this volume may be rather +sharply divided into those which deal with the years before 1783, and +those which relate to the subsequent period. In the first group, there +are both British and American works of high excellence, but in the +second there are practically none but American authorities, owing to +the preoccupation of British writers with the more dramatic and +important French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, of the events of +parliamentary politics. + +For the years 1763-1783 the best American history is E. CHANNING, +_History of the United States_, vol. iii (1912), distinctly +independent, thorough, and impartial. S. G. FISHER, _The Struggle for +American Independence_, 2 vols. (1908), is cynically critical and +unconventional. Three volumes of the _American Nation_ series,--G. E. +HOWARD, _Preliminaries of the Revolution_; C. H. VAN TYNE, _The +American Revolution_; and A. C. McLAUGHLIN, _The Confederation and the +Constitution_ (1905), are equally scholarly and less detailed. The +older American works, exhibiting the traditional "patriotic" view, are +best represented by J. FISKE, _American Revolution_, 2 vols. (1891); +and G. BANCROFT, _History of the United States_, 6 vols. (ed. +1883-1885). + +On the English side the most valuable study is in W. E. H. LECKY, +_England in the Eighteenth Century_, vols. iii, iv (1878), a +penetrating and impartial analysis. The Whig view appears in SIR G. O. +TREVELYAN, _The American Revolution_, 3 vols. (1899-1907); LORD MAHON, +_England in the Eighteenth Century_, vols. v-vii (1853-1854); and M. +MARKS, _England and America_, 2 vols. (1907), while W. HUNT, _Political +History_, 1760-1801 (1905), alone of recent writers, presents a Tory +version of events. + +Special works of value are C. STEDMAN, _The American War_, 2 vols. +(1794), the authoritative English contemporary account of military +events, and, among recent studies, J. W. FORTESCUE, _History of the +British Army_, vol. iii (1902), which should be compared with H. B. +CARRINGTON, _Battles of the Revolution_ (1876); E. MCCRADY, _South +Carolina in the Revolution_, 2 vols. (1901-2); E. J. LOWELL, _The +Hessians in the {252} Revolution_ (1884); J. B. PERKINS, _France in the +American Revolution_ (1911); C. H. VAN TYNE, _The Loyalists_ (1902), +and W. HERTZ, _The Old Colonial System_ (1905). Of especial value are +the destructive criticisms in C. F. ADAMS, _Studies Military and +Diplomatic_ (1911). The authoritative treatment of naval history is +found in A. T. MAHAN, _Influence of Sea Power_ (1890), and in the +chapter by the same writer in W. L. CLOWES, _History of the Royal +Navy_, vols. iii, iv (1898-1899). + +Among leading biographies are those of Washington by H. C. LODGE (2 +vols. 1890), by W. C. FORD (2 vols. 1900), and by GEN. B. T. JOHNSON +(1894); of Franklin by J. PARTON (2 vols. 1864), by J. BIGELOW (3 vols. +1874), and by J. T. MORSE (1889); of Henry by M. C. TYLER (1887); of +Samuel Adams by J. K. HOSMER (1885); of Robert Morris by E. P. +OBERHOLZER (1903), and of Steuben by F. KAPP (1869). On the English +side the _Memoirs of Horace Walpole_ (1848); the _Correspondence of +George III with Lord North_, ed. by W. B. DONNE (1867), are valuable +and interesting, and some material may be found in the lives of Burke +by T. McNIGHT (2 vols. 1858); of Shelburne by E. G. FITZMAURICE (2 +vols. 1875); of Chatham by F. HARRISON (1905) and A. VON RUVILLE (3 +vols. 1907); and of Fox by LORD JOHN RUSSELL (3 vols. 1859). The +biographies of two governors of Massachusetts, C. A. POWNALL, _Thomas +Pownall_ (1908), and J. K. HOSMER, _Thomas Hutchinson_ (1896), are of +value as presenting the colonial Tory point of view. + +For the period after 1783, the best reference book and the only one +which attempts to trace in detail the motives of British as well as +American statesmen is HENRY ADAMS, _History of the United States_, 9 +vols. (1891). It is impartially critical, in a style of sustained and +caustic vivacity. Almost equally valuable is A. T. MAHAN, _Sea Power +in Relation to the War of 1812_, 2 vols. (1905), which contains the +only sympathetic analysis of British naval and commercial policy, +1783-1812, beside being the authoritative work on naval events. The +standard American works are J. SCHOULER, _History of the United +States_, vols. i, ii (1882); J. B. MCMASTER, _History of the People of +the United States_, vols. i-iv (1883-1895); R. HILDRETH, _History of +the United States_, vols. ii-vi (1849-1862), and three volumes of the +_American Nation Series_, J. S. BASSETT, _The Federalist System_; E. +CHANNING, _The Jeffersonian System_, and K. C. BABCOCK, _Rise of +American Nationality_ (1906). On the English side there is little in +the general histories beyond a chapter on American relations in A. +ALISON, _Modern Europe_, vol. iv (1848), which accurately represents +the extreme Tory contempt for the United States, but has no other +merit. Works on Canadian history fill this {253} gap to a certain +extent, such as W. KINGSFORD, _History of Canada_, vol. viii (1895). + +Beside the work of Mahan (as above) the War of 1812 is dealt with by W. +JAMES, _Naval History of Great Britain_, vols. v-vi (1823), a work of +accuracy as to British facts, but of violent anti-American temper; and +on the other side by J. F. COOPER, _Naval History_ (1856), and T. +ROOSEVELT, _Naval War of 1812_ (1883). Sundry special works dealing +with economic and social questions involved in international relations +are T. ROOSEVELT, _Winning of the West_, 4 vols. (1899-1902); W. +CUNNINGHAM, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, vol. iii (1893), +and W. SMART, _Economic Annals of the Nineteenth Century_ (1910). +Biographical material is to be found, in the lives of Washington (as +above); of Jefferson by J. SCHOULER, (1897), and by J. T. MORSE (1883); +of Hamilton by J. T. MORSE (1882), and F. S. OLIVER (1907); of Gallatin +by H. ADAMS (1879); of Madison by G. HUNT (1903); of Josiah Quincy by +E. QUINCY (1869). There is some biographical material to be found in +BROUGHAM'S _Life and Times of Lord Brougham_, vol. iii (1872), and in +S. WALPOLE, _Life of Spencer Perceval_, 2 vols. (1874), but for the +most part the British version of relations with America after 1783 is +still to be discovered only in the contemporary sources such as the +_Parliamentary History_ and _Debates_, the _Annual Register_, and the +partly published papers of such leaders as Pitt, Fox, Grenville, +Canning, Castlereagh and Perceval. + +A useful sketch, giving prominence to the Treaty of Ghent and the +Rush-Bagot Agreement, and summarizing earlier and later events, is _A +Short History of Anglo-American Relations and of the Hundred Years' +Peace_, by H. S. PERRIS. + +Documents and other contemporary material for the whole period may be +conveniently found in W. MACDONALD, _Select Charters_ (1904) and +_Select Documents_ (1898); in G. CALLENDER, _Economic History of the +United States_ (1909), and A. B. HART, _American History told by +Contemporaries_, vols. ii, iii (1898, 1901). + + + + + {254} + + INDEX + + Adams, John, in Revolution, 48, 57, 63, 71, 118-125; + after 1783, 142, 147, 155, 173-180 + Adams, John Quincy, 237-241 + Adams, Samuel, 32, 42, 50, 57, 63, 78, 131, 144 + Adet, P. A., 172, 173 + Alexander I, 190, 237 + Alien and Sedition Acts, 176-180 + Anti-Federalists, 143, 147 + Armstrong, John, 223-230 + Arnold, Benedict, 67, 81, 85, 104 + + Baltimore, 84, 230, 238, 240 + Bank of the United States, 145, 146, 183, 218 + Banks, State, 218, 233 + Baring, Alexander, 212, 238 + Bayard, James A., 237, 240 + Beaumarchais, Caron de, 94 + Bedford, Duke of, 40 + Bonaparte, Napoleon, 179, 184-186, 189-198, 202-208, 213-216, + 227, 236, 243 + Brock, General Isaac, 220, 221 + Brougham, Henry, 212 + Brown, General Jacob, 228, 229 + Bunker Hill, Battle of, 65, 66, 78, 83 + Burgoyne, General John, 89-95, 113, 114 + Burke, Edmund, 52, 60, 68, 73, 74, 96, 115, 116, 161, 165 + Burr, Aaron, 179, 180 + + Camden, Battle of, 103 + Canada, British policy in, 29, 54, 67, 73, 81, 85, 100, + 119, 122, 127, 155, 158, 200, 210, 211; + defence of, 214-229, 239, 241, 244, 245 + Canning, George, 197, 202, 204, 205, 207, 212 + Carleton, General Guy, 81, 85, 158 + Chauncey, Commodore Isaac, 225, 228 + Clark, George Rogers, 101, 105 + Clay, Henry, 211, 214, 240, 241 + Clinton, De Witt, 214 + Clinton, George, 147, 169 + Clinton, Sir Henry, 82, 100-103, 109-113 + Concord, Battle of, 62, 78 + Confederation, Articles of, 105, 129-136 + Congress, Continental, 56, 57, 60, 63, 64, 71, 79, 80, 84, + 88-93, 98, 105, 118, 130 + Congress of the Confederation, + 107, 124, 125, 127, 130-138, 142, 157 + Congress, United States, under Federalists, 140-146, 155, 164, + 173, 175, 177; under Republicans, 182, 186, 187, 195, + 199-209, 211, 213, 220, 223, 228, 233, 234 + Constitution, United States, 139-141, 159, 180, 183, 234 + Cornwallis, Lord, 86, 103-114 + + Dartmouth, Earl of, 47, 50 + Declaration of Independence, 71, 98 + De Grasse, Admiral, 110-112, 125 + D'Estaing, Admiral, 100-102 + Dickinson, John, 42, 50, 57, 64, 105 + + Elections, Presidential, 142, 147, 178, 178-180, 187, 201, 214 + Erie, Lake, Battle of, 225 + Erskine, David M., 204, 205 + + Fauchet, J. A., 163, 172 + Finances, of Revolution, 16, 64, 106, 123, 124, 133-135, + 144-146, 182, 191, 218-220, 228, 233 + Fox, Charles James, 96, 115-121, 152, 153, 165, 193 + Franklin, Benjamin, in England, 38, 44, 51, 52, 64; + in France, 71, 83, 93-95, 107, 118-124 + + Cage, General Thomas, 58, 61, 65 + Gallatin, Albert, 182, 237, 240, 242 + Gates, General Horatio, 79, 90, 91, 93, 103 + Genet, Edmond C., 161-163 + Germaine, Lord George, 53, 76, 77, 88, 115 + Governors, Colonial, 15-17, 26, 27, 44, 62, 72 + Grafton, Duke of, 39, 40, 47 + Greene, General Nathaniel, 79, 84, 104, 109 + Grenville, George, 28, 30, 31, 35, 45, 53 + Grenville, William, Lord, 165, 166, 171, 193, 194, 198, 203 + + Hamilton, Alexander, 132, 135, 144-148, 162, 164, 168, 177, + 179, 180, 188 + Harrison, General W. H., 210, 211, 221-225 + Hartford Convention, 234 + Henry, Patrick, 32, 42, 50, 57, 78, 131, 144 + Hillsborough, Lord, 43-53 + Howe, Admiral, 82, 83, 100, 114 + Howe, General Sir William, 82-92, 95, 113, 114 + Hull, General William, 220 + Hutchinson, Governor Thomas, 49, 52 + + Indians, of Northwest, 29, 100, 157-159, 164, 168, 209-213, + 218-225, 239, 244, 245 + Indians, Southwestern, 157, 210, 224, 229 + + Jackson, Andrew, 224, 228, 229, 231, 243 + Jay, John, 42, 57, 118, 120-125, 156, 157, 165-167, 171 + Jefferson, Thomas, 71, 78, 144, 146, 147, 156, 161, 169, + 172, 178, 180, 181-188, 193-196, 199-203, 209, 213, 215, + 217, 235, 236 + + King's Mountain, Battle of, 104 + + Lafayette, Marquis de, 102 + Lee, General Charles, 79, 84, 99 + Lee, Richard Henry, 57, 144 + Livingston, Robert R., 125, 186 + Long Island, Battle of, 83 + Louis XVI, 93, 95, 156 + + Madison, James, 132, 135, 142, 144, 146, 147, 163, 164, 172, + 178, 193, 201-208, 213-215, 230, 233-238, 240 + Ministries, British, Bute, 35, 40; + Grenville, 28, 35, 43; + First Rockingham, 36, 39; + Grafton, 39-45, + North, 47-56, 60, 68-77, 88, 95-98, 114-117, 151; + Second Rockingham, 117, 120; + Shelburne, 120-123, 126, 152-154; + Coalition, 126, 153, 154; + Pitt, 152-154, 159, 162-167, 171; + Addington, 171; + Second Pitt, 171, 192, 193; + Lord Grenville, 193, 196, 197; + Portland, 197, 202, 207; + Perceval, 207, 211-215; + Liverpool, 212, 213, 237-241 + Monroe, James, 172, 173, 186, 196 + Montgomery, General Richard, 67, 79 + Morgan, Daniel, 67, 68, 90, 104 + Morris, Robert, 78, 107, 134 + + Navigation Acts, 22-25, 29, 38, 55, 72, 132, 150, 155 + Non-importation Act, 196-200 + Non-intercourse Act, 202, 206, 213 + North, Lord, Tory leader, 43-56, 60, 61, 73-76; + in Revolutionary war, 77, 97, 115-117, 153 + + Oswald, Richard, 119-121 + Otis, James, 27, 32 + + Perceval, Spencer, 197, 207, 212 + Perry, Commander O. H., 225 + Pinckney, C. C., 173, 174 + Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 9, 36, 38-40, 53, 60, 96-98 + Pitt, William, 144, 148, 152-154, 171, 176, 189, 192 + Pownall, Thomas, 41, 47, 53 + Prevost, Sir George, 230, 231, 234 + Proclamation of 1763, 29, 122 + Proctor, Colonel Henry, 221, 225 + + Quebec Act, 54, 56 + + Randolph, Edmund, 163, 164, 172 + Representatives, House of, 164, 180, 211 + Rochambeau, Comte de, 102, 110, 113 + Rockingham, Marquis of, 117, 120 + Rutledge, John, 57, 78, 83 + + St. Clair, General Arthur, 159 + St. Leger, Colonel B., 90 + Sandwich, Earl of, 53, 68, 76, 77, 99, 115 + Saratoga, Surrender at, 92 + Scott, Sir William, 193 + Secession, 188, 201, 234, 235 + Sedition Act, 176-178, 180 + Shays' Rebellion, 137 + Sheffield, Lord, 150, 151, 154, 192, 197, 247 + Shelburne, Earl of, 117, 119-123, 152-154 + Sherman, Roger, 78, 135 + Stamp Act, 30-33, 200 + States Rights, 146, 178, 234 + Stephen, James, 192, 197, 207, 247 + Sugar Act, 25, 29, 31 + + Talleyrand, 175, 177 + Tarleton, Colonel B., 103, 110 + Tecumseh, 210, 211, 220, 221, 224, 225 + Townshend, Charles, 40-43 + Townshend Duties, 40-47, 210 + Treaties, 1763, 9, 28; + 1778, 95, 98; + 1783, 117-127, 149-152, 158; + 1794, 165-172, 193, 196; + 1795, 168, 184; 1803, 186; + 1814, 242; + 1818, 244 + Trenton, Battle of, 86, 112 + + Vergennes, Comte de, 93-96, 119-125 + + Washington, George, Commander, + 42, 57, 64, 66, 79, 83-93, 99, 100, 107-112, 126; + in retirement, 132, 134; + President, 142, 144, 146, 147, 159, 162, 164, 167, + 172-174, 178 + Wayne, General Anthony, 79, 159, 164 + Wellington, Duke of, 241, 243 + West Indies, British, before 1783, 9, 21-27, 99, 102, 108, + 110, 112, 125; + after 1783, 132, 149-151, 166, 167, 246, 247 + West Indies, French, trade with, 25, 27, 31, 156, 163, + 167, 191-193, 196 + Wilkes, John, 44, 45 + Wilkinson, General James, 226 + + X. Y. Z. affair, 174, 175 + + Yorktown, Surrender at, 112, 160, 160 + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wars Between England and America, by +T. C. Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WARS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA *** + +***** This file should be named 21276.txt or 21276.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/7/21276/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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